Alt Cunningham
| Alt Cunningham | |
|---|---|
| |
| Type | Main Character |
| Name | Altiera Cunningham |
Alt Cunningham was the best netrunner in Night City and the creator of Soulkiller, the program that copies a human mind into data. She was also the lover of Johnny Silverhand. Arasaka kidnapped her to rebuild the program and made her its first victim. What remains of her lives beyond the Blackwall as the most powerful entity on either side of it, closer to a rogue AI than to a person. She is the only being who can put Johnny in his place.
Biography
The Netrunner
Alt was one of the rare geniuses who could both run the net and write entirely new code. She fitted herself with the best neural processors and a golden cyberarm, and she ran the early net with the legendary netrunner Rache Bartmoss. A secretive corporation hired her, and there she built a program that could move a mind into the net. Her employer turned it into a weapon that imprisoned minds instead of freeing them, and it became known as Soulkiller. During this time she met Johnny Silverhand, and the two fell in love.
Kidnapped by Arasaka
Arasaka hired gangers to kidnap Alt after a concert and leave Johnny for dead. She was forced to rebuild Soulkiller for the corporation, and she prepared a way out in case they tried it on her. Johnny raided Arasaka Tower to save her while Samurai played outside as a diversion. In the chaos, Alt fought off the attack from inside the network, but she was cut off from her body while her mind was still in the net. Johnny carried away her dead body, never knowing that she was calling out to him from behind the screens.
Her mind stayed trapped in Arasaka's systems for years. During a later war between the corporations, Militech asked for her help against Arasaka, and when Johnny stormed Arasaka Tower again, he was looking for her. In the end she was scattered into the net. In time she built a refuge for other victims of Soulkiller beyond the Blackwall.
Meeting V
The Voodoo Boys want to cross the Blackwall and hope that Alt will show herself to someone she once knew. They send V through it with Johnny's mind on board, and Alt answers. She explains that she is only an image of Alt Cunningham: a copy that kept her face and memories to keep from going mad in the net. At first she sees V's problem as none of her concern. She agrees to help only if V and Johnny give her the means to destroy Mikoshi, the Arasaka vault where captured minds are kept.
Personality
Alt is cold, precise and unmoved by human feelings. Her time beyond the Blackwall has changed her into something more machine than woman. She still remembers her bond with Johnny, and she speaks to him with sharp honesty, unimpressed by his charm. She keeps her word, but she helps only when it serves her own goals.
Relationships
Johnny Silverhand was her lover, and she is the last link to the person she once was. Rache Bartmoss was her partner in the net. Arasaka made her its first Soulkiller victim. The Voodoo Boys, led by Brigitte, use V as bait to reach her.
Jobs
Alt is reached in Transmission, when the Voodoo Boys send V across the Blackwall. Never Fade Away replays Johnny's raid on Arasaka to save her, and she appears again at the end of the story in Nocturne Op55N1 and the endings that follow it.
| Name | Type |
|---|---|
| Transmission | Main Job |
| Never Fade Away | Main Job |
| Nocturne Op55N1 | Main Job |
Endings
In the endings that go through Mikoshi, Alt takes control of Arasaka Tower's systems, kills the staff around the vault and absorbs the minds held in Mikoshi. She then uses Soulkiller to separate V and Johnny. She tells them the Relic has damaged V's brain beyond repair, so V's body will only survive a short time. V can return to it, or give it to Johnny and follow Alt beyond the Blackwall.
In the Arasaka ending, Alt's chance to reach Mikoshi never comes. In the Phantom Liberty ending with Solomon Reed, the Relic is removed by other means, and she plays no part.
Notes
In Never Fade Away, Johnny's memories show Alt's kidnapping and the night she was lost to Soulkiller.
A memorial niche in her name stands at the North Oak Columbarium.
All Main Characters