Fiona wrote:
True, plots do tend to get advanced in adventure stories by random acts of
carelessness :). But as I did say, this act wouldn't have been so but for Servalan deciding to take a desperate chance. And she was in a desperate situation-- seducing Avon hadn't worked, the Mellanbys weren't likely to sympathise with her and the only apparent way of getting off the planet was by blackmailing Avon.<
I think we can assume Avon to be intelligent enough to work that out. So why would he want to give Servalan the opportunity to blackmail him?
Hm, but let's look at it another way. Avon, as it stands, has a choice
of leaving Orac in the workroom or keeping it with him wherever he's sleeping. Now, if he suspects that Servalan is after Orac, to keep Orac with him would mean that he would spend a sleepless night,<
He could order Orac to shrink and put it under his pillow. :-) Or he could have rigged up some sort of burgler alarm in his bedroom. (And we don't know whether his room could be locked or not.) He could even have taken Orac out of its casing and taken it with him to his room, leaving the casing for Servalan to steal. :-)
It would not have been a long sleep anyway, Avon mentiones Liberator being a few hours away. And he says he could do with a *rest*, which not necessarily means that he's planning to sleep. Maybe he just has enough of Mellanby's company and longs for a bit of privacy, using his need for a rest as an excuse. :-)
:)! But Avon thinks in logical, rational terms-- he is trying to
outcalculate Servalan, and he's nearly right. He couldn't have foreseen either the gun being left out or Mellanby being around to be shot (had Mellanby not been there she would likely have hid Orac and used it to bargain with); he's a computer technician, not a psychostrategist.<
But as you say, he can think in logical, rational terms. :-) That's exactly why I find it so hard to credit this utter stupidity. Why would he want to make it easy for Servalan?
Suppose you're in a hotel,carrying a fortune in your suitcase. If you find your biggest enemy also staying there and if that enemy tells you that he knows about the fortune and wants to take it from you, would you then leave the suitcase in the lounge or take it with you to your room?
Sorry, but I still think it's sloppy writing. :-)
Marian