CHARACTERS

Viktor Semyonovich Abakumov—Colonel General; Minister of State Security; formerly head of SMERSH.

Grigory Borisovich Abramson (Grigory Borisych, Borisych)—Zek (prisoner) at Marfino sharashka (special prison); serving second consecutive term; engineer; Trotskyist.

Agnia—Girlfriend of Anton Yakonov in his youth.

Avenir—Uncle of Innokenty Volodin.

Aleksandr Yevdokimovich Bobynin—Zek; senior engineer; assigned to Number Seven Lab; age forty-two.

Amantai Bulatov—Zek; Kazan Tatar; assigned to Number Seven Lab; formerly POW under the Germans.

Bulbanyuk—General; one of the officials overseeing the experiment in voice identification.

Vladimir Erastovich Chelnov—Zek; serving eighteenth year of incarceration; formerly professor of mathematics and corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences; lists nationality as “zek.”

Iosif Vissarionovich Djugashvili (Soso, Koba, Iossarionych)—Real name of Stalin.

Rostislav Vadimovich Doronin (Ruska, Rusya, Rostislav Vadimych)—Zek; sentenced to twenty-five years; mechanic; assigned to Vacuum Lab; adventurist; age twenty-three; designated for shipment out of Marfino.

Konstantin Dvoetyosov—Zek; assigned to Vacuum Lab; gigantic man.

Ivan Feofanovich Dyrsin (Vanya)—Zek; in tenth and last year of his sentence; engineer; assigned to Number Seven Lab.

Nikolai Arkadievich Galakhov (Kolya)—Husband of Dinera; famous young Soviet author; age thirty-seven.

Dinera Petrovna Galakhova (Nera)—Daughter of Pyotr Makarygin; sister of Dotnara and Klara; wife of Nikolai Galakhov.

Illarion Pavlovich Gerasimovich (Larik, Illarion Palych)—Zek; serving second term of incarceration; engineer, optics expert; designated for shipment out of Marfino.

Natalia Pavlovna Gerasimovich (Natasha)—Wife of Illarion; jobless; age thirty-seven.

Ernst Golovanov (Erik, Erik Saunkin-Golovanov)—Real name Saunkin, pseudonym Golovanov; literary critic; acquaintance of Klara Makarygina.

Isaak Kagan—Zek; directs battery room; stool pigeon.

Ilya Terentievich Khorobrov (Ilya Terentich, Terentich)—Zek; arrested for defacing election ballot with an obscenity; engineer, radio expert; assigned to Number Seven Lab; designated for shipment out of Marfino.

Klimentiev—Lieutenant Colonel; commandant of Marfino, supervisor of the guards; authorized visit of Nerzhin and wife.

Klykachev—Lieutenant; predecessor, then assistant, to Boris Stepanov as Communist Party organizer at Marfino.

Ippolit Mikhailovich Kondrashov-Ivanov (Ippolit Mikhalych)—Zek; resident painter of art works; age fifty.

Kuleshov—Lieutenant, Ministry of State Security.

Viktor Lyubimichev—Zek; electrician; assigned to Number Seven Lab; stool pigeon.

Pyotr Afanasievich Makarygin—Public prosecutor in Moscow; father of Dinera, Dotnara, and Klara.

Alevtina Nikanorovna Makarygina—Wife of Pyotr Makarygin; stepmother of Dinera, Dotnara, and Klara.

Klara Petrovna Makarygina—Youngest daughter of Pyotr Makarygin; free worker at Marfino; friendly with Ruska Doronin.

Yakov Ivanovich Mamurin—Zek; formerly director of Communications Department, Ministry of the Interior; placed in charge of Number Seven Lab.

Myshin—Major; Operations Officer at Marfino, responsible for security.

Nadelashin—Junior Lieutenant; guard at Marfino.

Gleb Vikentievich Nerzhin (Glebka, Glebochka, Gleb Vikentich, Vikentich)—Zek; mathematician; assigned to Acoustics Lab; interlocutor of Rubin and Sologdin; age thirty-one; designated for shipment out of Marfino.

Nadezhda Ilyinichna Nerzhina (Nadya)—Wife of Nerzhin; graduate student.

Foma Guryanovich Oskolupov—Major General; head of Special Technology Department, Ministry of State Security.

Aleksandr Nikolaevich Poskryobyshev (Sasha)—Lieutenant General; head of Stalin’s personal secretariat; gatekeeper and spokesman for Stalin.

Andrei Andreevich Potapov (Andrei, Andreich )—Zek; electrical engineer; assigned to Number Seven Lab; formerly POW under the Germans; age forty.

Valentin Martynovich Pryanchikov (Val, Valentulya, Valentin Martynych, Pryanchik)—Zek; engineer, radio expert; assigned to Acoustics Lab; formerly POW under the Germans; age thirty-one.

Dushan Radovich—Serb; faithful Marxist; acquaintance of Makarygin.

Adam Veniaminovich Roitman—Engineer Major; senior deputy of Yakonov; supervisor of Acoustics Lab; winner of a Stalin Prize; age thirty.

Lev Grigorievich Rubin (Levka, Lyova, Lyovka, Lyovochka, Lyovushka)—Zek; linguist; assigned to Acoustics Lab; steadfast Communist; interlocutor of Nerzhin and Sologdin; age thirty-six.

Mikhail Dmitrievich Ryumin (Minka, Mikhail Dmitrich)—Senior MGB interrogator; formerly SMERSH investigator.

Selivanovsky—Deputy Minister of State Security.

Serafima Vitalievna (Sima, Simochka)—Free worker at Marfino; worked alongside Gleb Nerzhin, developed amorous interest in him.

Rakhmankul Shamsetdinov—Staff member of Moscow Oblast Communist Party Committee; guest lecturer in political propaganda at Marfino.

Shchagov—Engineer Captain; soldier in Red Army during World War II; friend of Nadya Nerzhina.

Shikin—Major; security operations officer at Marfino; rival of Myshin.

Shusterman—Senior Lieutenant; guard at Marfino.

Artur Siromakha—Zek; electrician; assigned to Number Seven Lab; king of stool pigeons.

Smolosidov—Lieutenant; MGB officer at Marfino; entrusted with physical property for top-secret project.

Dmitri Aleksandrovich Sologdin (Mitya, Mityai, Dmitri Aleksandrych)—Zek; engineer, designer; assigned to Design Office; serving second term and twelfth year of incarceration; interlocutor of Nerzhin and Rubin; Christian; age thrity-six.

Boris Sergeevich Stepanov (Boris Sergeich)—Secretary of Communist Party at Marfino; age forty-nine.

Gennady Tyukin (Genka)—Lieutenant, Ministry of State Security.

Pyotr Trofimovich Verenyov—Before World War II a senior lecturer in mathematics at Rostov University; Nerzhin’s former teacher.

Innokenty Artemievich Volodin (Ini, Ink, Inok)—Diplomat, State Counselor Grade Two in Ministry of Foreign Affairs (equivalent in rank to lieutenant colonel); age thirty.

Dotnara Petrovna Volodina (Dotty, Nara)—Wife of Innokenty Volodin; daughter of Pyotr Makarygin.

Anton Nikolaevich Yakonov (Anton Nikolaich)—Engineer Colonel; chief engineer, Special Technology Department; head of operations at Marfino.

Spiridon Danilovich Yegorov (Spiridon Danilych, Danilych)—Zek; of peasant stock; yardman; age fifty.

Larisa Nikolaevna Yemina—Free worker at Marfino; copyist; worked alongside Dmitri Sologdin; married; age thirty.

Zemelya—Zek; engineer, vacuum-tube expert; assigned to Vacuum Lab.

Zhvakun—Lieutenant; guard at Marfino.