Nova Rising

Novacom donates five top-of-the-line computers to Alex and Cal's school, just as it has supplied equipment to schools throughout the area. The boys use them to explore the company's growing network of radio, television, and Internet services. A section called Novacom for Kids invites young people to help create and review online material, and Cal immediately applies for both of them.

Novacom accepts the boys and assigns them to review programs and gather other children's reactions. Alex plans to watch only the shows his parents permit while letting Cal review the forbidden ones. Whit questions that arrangement and worries about violent programs such as The Kickboxing Kids. Novacom is rapidly gaining influence in Odyssey, and he believes people should examine what it offers before accepting everything attached to its name.

Bernard arrives with news that Novacom has purchased B-TV and given him an office, staff, professional studio, and larger audience. He has signed a thick contract after reading it only imperfectly, but he is certain the company will preserve the biblical heart of his work. In a landscape of poor television, he sees B-TV as a chance to bring something worthwhile to many more viewers.

At Novacom, Bernard discovers that his impressive office leaves him with little to do. A writing staff discusses his ideas without him, claiming the scripts must pass through many drafts before he becomes involved. The producers also add a young cohost dressed as a banana because they think the character will make B-TV more current and sophisticated.

Whit visits and learns that Bernard's first themes are the Bible, faith, and sacrifice. Bernard trusts his contractual right to approve the final scripts, although the staff has already begun reshaping the program. Whit hopes the opportunity succeeds but remains concerned that the company will control far more than Bernard realizes.

Alex and Cal are placed in a makeshift workspace without even a door. While checking Novacom's site, Cal finds a password-protected section called Special Projects. AREM appears in an instant message, claims innocence, warns that Novacom is the true danger, and supplies the password Nova Rising.

Alex remembers the police warning and does not trust the hacker, but curiosity again wins. The boys enter the restricted files and find Novacom documents about the Radio Wave Study - the same project connected to Eugene's restricted work at Campbell College. Before they can learn more, the computer freezes and their supervisor calls them into her office.

The Novacom for Kids project is immediately dissolved, and the boys are dismissed without an explanation. They suspect the company discovered their unauthorized search and does not want them asking about the Radio Wave Study, but they have no proof. They also cannot decide what the connection means. Alex remains confident that Eugene would never knowingly do anything illegal, though he now has more questions than before.

Bernard's meeting with Novacom's writers finally reveals the company's plans for B-TV. They reject his explicitly Christian themes as too narrow and potentially offensive, suggesting harmless subjects such as nutrition, pollution, and plant care instead. When Bernard invokes his final script approval, Arthur Dent points out that the contract gives him no authority over which ideas ever become scripts.

Rather than lend the B-TV name to a program stripped of its purpose, Bernard works out a separation. Novacom will create its own show, and he will return to washing windows. He has already sold his best cleaning equipment to Edwin Blackgaard because visions of fame convinced him he would never need it again. Alex and Cal meet him as all three leave the company, but none of them yet understands Novacom's larger plans.

Bernard ignores an instant message from AREM and returns to Whit's End, expecting to rebuild his business with paper towels and household cleaner. Whit has quietly bought his professional squeegee and bucket back from Edwin. He gives them to Bernard in recognition of his refusal to compromise. B-TV may return to a tiny cable-access studio, but it will remain B-TV, and Bernard returns gratefully to honest work he can call his own.