# Ilya Simonov — Short Fiction character guide

> Ilya Simonov in Short Fiction by Mack Reynolds.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Colonel Ilya Simonov, Colonel Simonov, Simonov

**First appearance:** 0005-the-cosmic-bluff

## Snapshot

Young for his rank and trusted above all others, Colonel Ilya Simonov is the Minister's most long-winded field man — and the only one who calls him by his first name.

## Who they are

Simonov moves through the old Czarist ministry building in mufti, past guards who salute a colonel they can't see, into the office of Kliment Blagonravov, where vodka is poured and reports are mocked. He has just come from Magnitogorsk, where a club of engineers and intelligentsia discussed affairs too freely, and his account of it is routine — which is exactly what makes it ominous. His ease with Blagonravov, and Blagonravov's with him, marks him as the instrument through which Soviet security acts on what it learns.

## In the story

### [Freedom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_36_se/chapters/freedom)

Colonel Simonov investigates dissent, confronts a biologist, reports to Blagonravov, and ultimately kills him to protect his friends.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_36_se/characters/ilya_simonov
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_36_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_36_se/characters