Sally Manton wrote:
If Orac *had* nudged Vila into trying it, and they'd survived as they did
in
the real Orbit, would Avon have shown any anger towards Orac? (BTW, would
he
have done so towards Vila? I really aren't sure that he would - he is
honest
enough to realise that Vila's self-interest exceeds his own)
After all these years, I remain horribly undecided on this one. I imagine Avon would despise hypocrites, but he is capable of being hypocritical himself - for instance he complains bitterly about Blake concealing things from the others, but does the same thing himself.
Logically, he would realise that Vila had done exactly what he himself would have done. Emotionally, he does react very badly to betrayal. I have no idea which would have won out - his immediate reaction would have been anger, I suspect, though I don't know whether he would have held a grudge the way Vila did.
Angry at Orac? I sure as hell would have been. I refuse to believe that frail Pinder managed to carry that block on board the shuttle, so it must have been loaded by the automated (ie computer-controlled) system. Why didn't Orac investigate that possibility before setting the occupants to killing one another?
Louise