Our lives exist between the dark and the light,
Mother Nature can be kind, but she has a nasty bite.
And just when you think that you're doing okay,
You can be sure that trouble is not far away.
For Ensor this lesson came early in life,
For though brilliant of mind, his heart met with strife.
And while he was a man of creative endeavours,
The Federation would use them to further its treasures.
What became of his wife, he never did say,
But it all became so much that he had to run away.
So with son in tow, he made to Aristo,
A place that no-one had long called their home.
With rising seas of acid, and phibians not placid,
The last civilisation had long since been scattered.
But for Ensor it was perfect, a quiet retreat,
And among the ruins his escape was complete.
Left alone to work, his mind was free,
It ticked over and over with creativity.
Necessity is the mother of most invention,
And on Aristo there is no Federation pension.
So, it started with one hack of a Federation computer,
It was so easy when he turned his Tarriel cell to looter.
And so an idea was born to build a super computer,
That could read every cell in every computer.
Did I say computer? Pardon me, I forgot,
A computer it most certainly is not.
It's a brain, a genius, a probability ruminator,
With a personality befitting its acerbic maker.
Progress was slow, with no resources to hoe,
Patience is a virtue when you're working alone.
But as the days turned to years, Orac was born,
And Ensor's powers heralded a new dawn.
But beneath the bright light of Orac's glow,
Mother Nature was building a strong undertow.
For though Ensor knew his new heart would expire,
It still came as a surprise when he began to tire.
At first he fought the tiredness with all of his might,
But as the days wore on he became resigned to his plight.
And as the man of brilliance began to fade,
He found amusement in other new ways.
"Hello, my little ones" he would say to his fish,
And in the next breath keel over with pain and wince.
But though Ensor was resigned to quietly pass out his days,
His son was determined to find other ways.
So to the cabinet of drugs his son took recourse,
Only to find that they made Ensor worse.
And when Ensor declared "Enough filthy drugs, let me go in peace!"
His son turned his mind to make the woe cease.
"Sell Orac?" roared Ensor "Over my dead body!"
But as the irony echoed, it made sense oddly.
"We will never be free of the Federation!", his son did plea,
"We have to make our bed in this den of thieves".
And so to the Federation his son would go,
To do a deal with the devil, his head hung low.
(End of Part 1)
Original via Tyger ...
Blake's 7, Season 1
Episode A13: Orac
Ensor is played by Derek Farr
