The N.E.M.E.S.I.S. (an acronym of "Numeric Evaluating Mathematical Engine and Serial Intelligence System") was a computer developed by British mathematicians Alexis Fairburn and Ivar Peterson (under duress) during the winter of 1933. The machine was a clandestine project of the Soviet Union's secret police, the OGPU, and was built under the supervision of Colonel Irina Sedova for the purpose of cryptanalysis. The equipment appeared in Charlie Higson's 2007 Young Bond novel, Double or Die.
Appearances[]
Double or Die[]
During the early 1930s, British industrialist and illegal casino owner, Sir John Charnage, contracted Ivar Peterson to create a simple calculating machine for predicting gambling outcomes. News of the equipment reached the Soviet Union and he was approached by Colonel Sedova of the OGPU to build them an information processing system capable of producing unbreakable encryption.[1] Neglecting to name his employer, Charnage hired Peterson and Fairburn to construct the "N.E.M.E.S.I.S". However, Fairburn eventually deduced the true nature of their project and left. Fearful of Russian reprisals, Charnage hired contract-killers Wolfgang and Ludwig Smith to kidnap Fairburn and forced him to resume construction.
The N.E.M.E.S.I.S. was constructed during late 1933 aboard a medium-sized cargo ship, the Amoras (formerly the Sapphire), which had been moored at the Royal Docks in London. The machine took up most of its forward cargo hold and was described as "a giant, gleaming framework of brass and steel supported by cables and iron struts".[2] It was comprised of rods, wheels, coils, cogs and gears, tiny pistons and strips of thin card, punched with holes, that snaked from huge rolls. Data was input via a large typewriter-style keyboard connected to the main machine by a tangle of coloured wires. The great machine was powered by a series of belts that were driven by the ship's engines and generated a tremendous heat.
On the night of 17th December 1933, James Bond and his friends sneaked aboard the Amoras and rescued the captive Fairburn as he worked on N.E.M.E.S.I.S. The break-out was noticed however and they were forced to hide overnight aboard a nearby ocean liner. The following morning they re-entered the Amoras with the help of a small army of loyal dock-workers. His usefulness at an end, Charnage had been shot by the OGPU and, mortally-wounded, he vengefully assisted Bond by sabotaging the ship's boilers - ultimately destroying the Amoras and its precious cargo. Thirteen years later, at the close of the Second World War, Commander Bond was sent to Bletchley Park to bring Fairburn back to London for debriefing at the ministry headquarters. Fairburn had been working at "Site X", where his mathematics skills had been put to use as a code-breaker alongside Alan Turing. Turing's calculating machines proved far more powerful than his N.E.M.E.S.I.S. machine had been; leading him to muse that Colonel Sedova had kidnapped the wrong man.
References[]
- ↑ Higson, Charlie [October 2009] (June 2010). Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier, Young Bond (in En-UK). Puffin Books, p.150. ISBN 978-0-14-132770-9.
- ↑ Higson, Charlie (4 January 2007). "Chapter 23: Into the Lion's Jaws", Double or Die, Young Bond (in En-UK). Puffin. ISBN 0141322039.