The Turing agents question Case. They have traced the path of the group from the Chiba City clinic onward. They inform Case that Armitage is already under arrest, though they still haven’t caught Molly. They try to convince Case to turn on Wintermute, implying that the future of the human species is at stake if Wintermute succeeds in its goals. They also reveal that 14 innocent people died in the Sense/Net operation. Case stubbornly refuses to give up information.

As the agents escort Case to their shuttle, Wintermute takes control of Freeside’s security and maintenance drones. It kills all three agents with the robots as Case runs away.

Case returns to Maelcum to find the Garvey locked with Armitage’s yacht. He jacks into cyberspace with Dixie and begins using the Chinese icebreaker to sneak into Tessier-Ashpool’s system. A quick switch over to the simstim reveals Molly making the physical approach to Villa Straylight in zero gravity.

Wintermute once again yanks Case into a virtual reality, this time appearing as the Finn and recreating Case’s old New York neighborhood from Case’s memories.