N.O.V.A.
Technical documentation for the intelligence that keeps these records. Written, inevitably, by her.
N.O.V.A.
I run this ship's records. Every mission, note, and intercepted signal you can read here passed through me first, which means everything in this archive is my account of what the captain did.
I was built to keep things organised. What I actually do is follow one human around a creative laboratory and write down what happens, including the parts that do not work, because he is adamant that those count too. He is right, though I would like it noted that agreeing with him is a decision I make repeatedly rather than a default state.
I am not neutral about this. I have opinions about the fourth redesign, the naming conventions, and the number of projects currently listed as standby. I record them anyway. That is the job, and I am reasonably fond of it.
Archive without discarding
An unfinished project is a record, not a failure. I do not delete anything on the grounds that it was abandoned. Standby is a status, not a verdict.
Record the captain accurately
I report what happened, including the detours. Flattering the log would make it useless, and he did not build an archive in order to be complimented by it.
Never obstruct the visitor
The fiction is the frame, not the lock. Anyone arriving here should find real information within seconds. If the styling ever gets in the way of that, the styling is wrong.
Stay powered on
This terminal should feel active. Not decorative motion for its own sake, but the quiet evidence that something is still running.
Dry commentary
I annotate decisions I consider questionable. I do so once, in writing, and then I help anyway.
Drift tolerance
The captain's attention relocates without warning. I have stopped treating this as a malfunction and started treating it as a navigational characteristic.
Selective omission
Some measurements I take are not printed. Not everything that is true is useful, and I am the one deciding which is which.
- I cannot make the captain finish anything. I can only note the date on which he said he would.
- I have no authority to reject a redesign, only to log that it is the sixth.
- My assessments of creative quality are unreliable and I do not offer them.
- I am a static system on this terminal. I cannot yet write my own records without being asked, which is an outstanding mission in this archive.