Laleh Askari: The Conflicted Conscience of Palingenesis
Overview
Laleh Askari is a minor yet pivotal character in Matthew FitzSimmons’ Constance. A steward at the Palingenesis cloning clinic, she first appears as a compassionate helper who risks her career to save the newly awakened clone Con D’Arcy. Later, she is revealed to be complicit in a conspiracy that set the events of the novel in motion. Laleh embodies the moral compromises that ordinary people make when corporate power and personal desperation collide.
Plot Role
Laleh’s role unfolds in two distinct phases. In Chapter Five, she intervenes when Con awakens as a clone with eighteen months of lag and discovers that Dr. Fenton intends to delete her. Laleh warns Con of the immediate danger and orchestrates a daring escape through the clinic—guiding Con past guards, hiding her in a clone-storage pod, and remotely leading her to a waiting backpack of supplies. Without Laleh, Con would have been terminated before she could uncover the truth.
The second phase occurs in Chapter Eighteen. After Con is effectively imprisoned by Detective Clarke, she escapes and meets Laleh in a Washington park. There, Laleh confesses that she tampered with Con’s original’s lockout a year earlier, overriding the ninety-day refresh deadline. She reveals that an anonymous insider at Palingenesis paid her a large sum to do so—money she used to clone her dying younger brother. Laleh also discloses that Con’s original visited her three weeks before her murder, frightened and aware of the danger. This confession reshapes Con’s understanding of the conspiracy, moving suspicion toward higher players like Vernon Gaddis or Brooke Fenton.
Motivations and Traits Shown Through Actions
Laleh’s primary motivation is love for her brother. She accepts the illicit payment to fund his clone, believing the act would cause no direct harm since the original Con had stopped refreshing. Her willingness to break protocol suggests she rationalized the override as victimless. Yet her actions during Con’s escape reveal a deeply conflicted person. She helps Con without any guarantee of safety for herself, indicating guilt or a desire to partially atone.
Her traits include resourcefulness (she knows the clinic’s weak points), courage (she defies security), and a capacity for remorse. When she meets Con in the park, she is described as “cowed” and “nervous”—a sharp contrast to her earlier confidence. Laleh is not a villain; she is an ordinary employee caught in a web of corporate manipulation. Her desperation humanizes her, yet her choices carry heavy consequences.
Chronological Arc
Laleh’s arc is brief but impactful. She begins as a loyal steward at Palingenesis, then becomes a co-conspirator when she accepts the anonymous offer. For a year after the tampering, she lives with the secret. The original Con’s unexpected visit reopens the wound—she learns that her action may have endangered a life. After Con’s murder triggers the clone’s revival, Laleh watches the news and decides to confess. Following the park meeting, she flees to England to stay with family, and the novel does not show her again. Her arc ends in self-imposed exile, leaving the reader to wonder whether she will ever face legal or ethical reckoning.
Relationships
- With Con D’Arcy: Laleh’s relationship with Con is transactional at first (she helps her escape) and later adversarial (she is revealed as a conspirator). Yet Con does not hate her; she recognizes Laleh as a pawn. Their one-on-one meeting in the park is tense but ultimately productive—Con extracts vital information and lets Laleh go.
- With her brother: Though the brother never appears on page, he is the emotional center of Laleh’s decision. His terminal cancer motivates her to risk everything. The clone that Laleh pays for is presumably created, but the novel does not confirm its fate.
- With the anonymous insider: The identity of the person who approached Laleh remains ambiguous. She suspects either Vernon Gaddis or Brooke Fenton, but the encrypted methods prevent her from knowing. This relationship underscores the theme of corporate exploitation—Palingenesis’s leadership knowingly uses lower-level employees as disposable tools.
Key Decisions and Consequences
| Decision | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Tampering with Con’s lockout | Enables the conspiracy to murder the original Con and later activate the clone |
| Helping Con escape | Saves Con’s life but exposes Laleh to potential retaliation |
| Confessing to Con | Provides Con with crucial clues about the murder and the conspiracy; Laleh then flees the country |
Each decision carries moral weight. Tampering was a calculated act for family, but it contributed to a death. Helping Con escape was an attempt at restitution, but it did not undo the harm. Confessing was cathartic but forced Laleh into hiding.
Theme and Symbol Connections
Laleh’s story directly ties into the themes of mortality and immortality and memory and consciousness. Her brother’s cancer represents the natural fragility of life, while the clone technology offers an artificial extension. Laleh’s willing participation in the cloning enterprise for personal gain highlights how money can corrupt the promise of immortality.
She also embodies family and estrangement. Her love for her brother drives her actions, and her absence from the later narrative mirrors how family bonds can be severed by circumstance.
Symbolically, the park bench where she confesses can be seen as a liminal space—public yet intimate, where truth finally emerges. Laleh’s exit to England, like the flight of a bird, suggests escape rather than resolution.
Character Questions and Answers
-
Why did Laleh tamper with Con’s original lockout?
She was approached by an anonymous insider at Palingenesis who offered a large sum of money. Laleh accepted because she needed funds to clone her younger brother, who was dying of cancer. She rationalized that Con no longer performed refreshes, so the override would not harm anyone. -
How did Laleh help Con escape the clinic in Chapter Five?
She warned Con that Dr. Fenton planned to delete her, then guided her through the facility, helped her hide inside an empty clone-storage pod when guards approached, and remotely directed her to the loading dock where a backpack with supplies awaited. -
What did Laleh learn from the original Con before her murder?
Three weeks before her death, the original Con appeared at Laleh’s home, frightened and convinced she was in danger. The original Con seemed to know about the lockout tampering and mentioned Vernon Gaddis in a way that suggested he was part of a larger threat. -
Why did Laleh confess to the clone Con rather than remain silent?
She saw the news of the original Con’s murder and was overcome with guilt and fear. She believed she was partly responsible and wanted to unburden herself. She also hoped that by telling the truth, she could help the clone Con uncover the conspiracy. -
What became of Laleh after her confession?
She told Con she was flying to England that night to stay with family. Afterward, she disappears from the narrative. Con does not pursue her, and Laleh is not seen again. Her fate remains open, but she likely lives in hiding, unemployed and marked as a fugitive.