Arkady Bogdanov is one of the most influential characters in the novel. Arkady is a Russian engineer, with blazing red hair and blazing blue eyes. He is one of the leading anarchists of the group, and from the beginning urges the Ares crew to ignore governmental direction, and to set off on their own course. He and his team are to prepare Phobos as a space station. As a safety measure, however, Arkady implants explosives into the space station, knowing that if governmental action is done, it will be done from the space station. Once on Mars, Arkady and Nadia form a relationship, and Arkady leads parts of the revolution, as he pushes people to think beyond government control. The uprising against the transnationals is much the doing of Arkady. His political concepts come to be known as Bogdanovism, and he has several followers, both on Mars and on Earth. Unfortunately, Arkady is killed in an attack against one of the dome cities during the revolution.