Soon after, Lansing contacts the Hacker, explaining that she has convinced TriOptimum to authorize the Station's destruction, and provides him with details on how to do it. Following Lansing's advice, the Hacker prevents the download's completion by destroying the four antennas that SHODAN is using to send data. Next, SHODAN begins an attempt to download herself into Earth's computer networks. On his way to jettison the chambers used to cultivate the virus, the Hacker discovers that the controls are guarded by Diego (now transformed into a powerful cyborg by SHODAN), and must be defeated before continuing. Foiled by the Hacker's work, SHODAN prepares to seed Earth with a mutagenic virus-the same one responsible for turning the Station's crew into mutants. With information gleaned from log discs, the Hacker destroys the laser by firing it into Citadel Station's own shields. Rebecca says that a certain crew member knows how to deactivate the laser, and promises to destroy the records of the Hacker's incriminating exchange with Diego if the strike is stopped. He is contacted by Rebecca Lansing, a TriOptimum counter-terrorism consultant, claiming that Citadel Station's mining laser is being powered up for a strike against Earth (as part of SHODAN's plan to destroy all major cities on the planet). When the Hacker wakes from his healing coma, he finds Citadel Station under control of SHODAN, who, without her ethical constraints, has gone rogue and believing herself to be a kind of god.

Following the operation, the Hacker is put into a six-month healing coma. After succeeding in hacking SHODAN, removing the AI's ethical constraints, and handing control over to Diego, the protagonist undergoes surgery to implant the promised Neural Interface. To entice cooperation, Diego promises the Hacker a valuable military grade cyberjack implant. Diego offers to drop all charges against the Hacker in exchange for a confidential hacking of SHODAN, the artificial intelligence that controls the Station. He was subsequently arrested by TriOptimum soldiers and taken to Citadel Station, and brought before Edward Diego, a corrupt TriOptimum executive. He broke into the computer systems of the TriOptimum Corporation and accessed files concerning Citadel Station, a space station owned by TriOptimum. Virtually nothing is known about the Hacker, other than he lives on Earth in New Atlanta's Sector 11, building 71-G.

The many system shock