…and when it comes to persuading computers to do something that doesn’t make sense, well more suspension of disbelief comes into play.

PARANOIA featured a skill called Spurious Logic, which allowed you to engage artificial lifeforms in the sort of discussion that left them smouldering in confusion. Captain Kirk had a knack for doing this – with Landru in ‘The Return of the Archons’ and M5 in ‘The Ultimate Computer‘ – uttering some statement or puzzle that logically would not compute and led to much sparking/smoking of circuit boards. It seems that Amy and The Doctor, but the former particularly, managed to pull off a little of this with Bracewell when the Dalek’s initiated the Oblivion Continuum.

In DWAITAS, the standard test for handling spurious logic should be against Convince + Ingenuity – conveying a logical conceit in a manner than denotes absolute belief to anyone listening, artificial or not. To further enhance the prospect of success, a character might take the Trait Technobabble.

Technobabble (Minor Good Trait)
The character has a bewildering grasp of the esoteric nuisances of bleeding edge technologies and obscure scientific theorems. They might not always completely understand the nitty-gritty of the subject matter, but they appear convincingly assured in their grasp of the principles.
   Effect: +2 bonus to any roll where the character seeks to assert authority in his grasp of obscure science or technology.
   Note: Cannot be taken with the Technically Inept Bad Trait. However, the character’s grasp of the principles does not, in turn, provide any positive modifiers to actual attempts to understand, repair or override gadgets and devices – where the character would need Technology and/or Boffin.

Folk watching ‘Victory of the Daleks‘ have questioned how the British could have got Spitfires into space in a matter of minutes. Admittedly, a story conceit makes for a more exciting episode; but, with the right frame of mind you could find the means to get close to an explanation within the context of the story.

Edwin Bracewell, inventor of the Ironsides and pawn of the Daleks, has a schizoid existence, believing himself to be from a small village in Scotland and yet really being an android and devastatingly dangerous bomb. He showed an amazement to The Doctor that these ideas he had just seemed to pop into his head – forcefields, propulsion systems, and the Ironsides themselves.

For some reason, I have this weird need to associate him with Data (or B-4 from Nemesis) in one of those situations where he’s been stripped of his memories – whether because of damage or an insidious override. He has all the abilities of an android, without any real recollection of the situation. I can envisage Bracewell overcome by his ideas and visions, hands and mind racing beyond normal human limits, creating incredible devices without really understanding the process. The Dalek programming kicks in and Bracewell phases out for a moment, technology streaming from his subconscious bypassing the conscious personality imprinted into his android mind.

Bracewell showed The Doctor his blueprints for the forcefield and propulsion systems, and already had Ironside parts – like the weapon-systems – lying around his lab. It’s easy to imagine that he also had half-developed versions of those blueprint technologies – and that when pushed to complete them the same android speed could kick in without Bracewell being overtly aware of it. Before you know it, they have the jury-rigged bolt-on devices they need – and it seriously was a case of jury-rigging. Just as The Doctor creates tech from household devices at the drop of a hat, so Bracewell could undoubtedly do the same – except, he had some genuine pieces of technology already half-completed sitting around his lab.

At least, that’s how I suspend my disbelief…