Editing Count Zero (section)

===Introduction===
In ''Count Zero'' Gibson presents "a high-tech near-future of linked super-computers... [a matrix that] has given rise to "cyberspace," an "inner" space something like a three-dimensional video display... [in a] world is dominated by multinational corporations... a few fabulously rich individuals, and the cutthroat competition between them."<ref name = KirkusReview>{{cite web | author = Kirkus Staff | date = 26 March 1986 | title = "Count Zero" by William Gibson | work = [[KirkusReviews.com]] | url = https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/william-gibson/count-zero/ | access-date = 8 August 2024 | quote = <small>Something like a cross between Gibson's hugely successful debut, Neuromancer (paperback only), and his short story about futuristic corporate dirty tricks, "New Rose Hotel." We're in a high-tech near-future of linked super-computers; this matrix has given rise to "cyberspace," an "inner" space something like a three-dimensional video display (cf. the movie Tron); the world is dominated by multinational corporations, plus a few fabulously rich individuals, and the cutthroat competition between them. The three plot lines here eventually intertwine.</small>}}</ref> Seven years after the events of ''Neuromancer'', strange things begin to happen in the Matrix, leading to the proliferation of what appear to be [[Haitian Vodou|voodoo]] [[Loa|gods]] (hinted to be the fractured remains of the joined AIs that were Neuromancer and Wintermute). Two powerful [[multinational corporations]], Maas Biolabs and Hosaka, are engaged in a battle for control over a powerful new technology, a biochip, using hackers and the Matrix as well as espionage and violence.