
© Amazon.fr
In a dystopian future, Case is a former computer hacker who, having cheated
his last employer, has lost his ability to connect to the matrix as a
punishment. He now survives by committing petty crimes until he is contacted
by Armitage, who offers to repair the damage done to his nervous system in
exchange for a job. Case accepts and starts working with Molly, a mercenary
employed by Armitage. They first steal the device containing saved
consciousness of a famous hacker, nicknamed Dixie Flatline, by hiring a street
gang to simulate a terrorist attack on the building holding the device while
Molly steals it, helped by Case who remotely disables the buildings security
systems. The trio then travels to Istanbul to hire Riviera before flying to
Freeside, a space station functioning as a space resort for rich people. In
the meanwhile, Case is contacted several times by an artificial intelligence
called Wintermute which has been created by the Tessier-Ashpool family. The
law forbids creating an AI with both intelligence and personality and Case
learns that Wintermute is his real boss, Armitage being a fake personality
applied to a traumatized ex-military named Corto. Wintermute wants Case and
Molly to get Riviera to Lady 3Jane Tessier-Ashpool (who lives in Villa
Straylight, at one extremity of Freeside) so that it can be merged with
Neuromancer, an AI with personality. The two AIs would be able to merge
if Lady 3Jane pronounces a given password at the exact moment when the
software security systems that prevent the two AIs from reaching each other is
broken. Riviera is supposed to manipulate Lady 3Jane into pronouncing the
password (in a hidden terminal located at the Villa) while Case, with Dixie's
help, would break the security. Riviera attempts to sabotage the mission for
personal gain, but he is killed and the two AI finally merge into a
superconsciousness.