Neuromancer: Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis

Case meets Molly as she emerges from a back alley hospital in Baltimore. He delivers Yonderboy’s message, which he’s written on a napkin: “W I N T E R M U T E.” Molly takes Case back to New York to meet in the Finn’s secure room on the East Side. She gives Finn the napkin and explains that she did a deal on the side with Larry to find out who owns Armitage.

The Finn tells Molly Wintermute is an artificial intelligence. Based in Berne, it has Swiss citizenship. Wintermute is running Armitage, but, because AIs aren’t allowed autonomy, both Molly and Finn assume it’s Wintermute’s owners, Tessier-Ashpool S.A., who owns the mainframe and software, who are pulling Armitage’s strings.

The Finn tells Molly and Case a story about the Tessier-Ashpool family. Finn’s colleague, Smith, a fence who came to the Finn asking for information about the Tessier-Ashpool clan, had a supplier named Jimmy who had stolen a computerized bust from someone living in an orbital colony. The bust spoke using miniature organ pipes in its throat; despite being beautiful and elaborate, it was contemporary and thus not inherently valuable.

Smith researched the bust and discovered the Tessier-Ashpool family had commissioned it. He began to make passes at a Tokyo collector with an interest in “clockwork automata.” However, before he was able to sell the piece, a man named Hideo appeared in his office, looking for the bust. Smith recognized Hideo is a “vatgrown ninja assassin” and returned the head. Hideo paid Smith what Smith would have asked to collector for, took the head, and left. Days later, Smith learned Jimmy was killed.

After this, Smith came to the Finn. The Finn discovered Tessier-Ashpool S.A. was technically a law firm, which owned all of Freeside—an enormous settlement in orbit around earth. Although it’s a corporation, it’s also a family organization, and no one can buy in. Additionally, the family seems to be made up of clones that rotate in and out of commission. Molly gives Case a paper with coordinates and entry codes for a database of Armitage’s. She asks him to crack it.

Case returns to the loft, passing a holographic advertisement for Freeside, with a T-A logo in the bottom corner. As he walks, he considers Dixie, remembering how they met in a bar when he was nineteen, when Dixie had chosen Case to be his assistant that summer. It’s hard to imagine him as a construct now, dead, but replicated in ROM.

Back in the loft, Case turns on the Hosaka and connects the construct. Dixie exists as a mental presence “exactly the sensation of someone reading over your shoulder.” Case calls out to Dixie, introducing himself. Dixie answers. Case wonders what Dixie remembers. He says “nothin’.” Case disconnects the construct and reconnects it. Dixie doesn’t remember their previous conversation. He explains to Dixie that he’s a ROM construct, dead but preserved. Case asks for Dixie’s help accessing Armitage’s data. Dixie jokes that he has no choice.