Given that [a] Orac's first priority - by about a trillion miles - is its precious self, but that [b] of all its humans, it appears to like Avon best, what would the result have been had *Vila* been closer to the gun in Orbit and had asked the fatal question? My immediate reaction is that - in self-interest - it would have been 'Avon weighs more than 70 kilos', but would Orac have been so certain of Vila's ability to win any fight for the gun and/or shoot Avon if he *had* to? (my further opinion is that yes, Vila would have killed Avon to save himself, but would the rat in a box agree?)
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)
While Orbit isn't on my Top Ten episodes (no Blake :-)) I do like the fact that it has our three most blatant examples of self-interest smashing head-on, and only one comes out of it the same ...
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