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Post by Hashi Lebwohl »

You are too kind, Cord Hurn.

Don't worry--I never care about what the media might say about me.
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Post by Cord Hurn »

A bold and rather admirable attitude!
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Post by Cord Hurn »

It was hard for me to know quite what to think of Hashi when I first read of him. He sounded like a comic version of a scientist, a so-called "mad scientist", but his power over others and his perverse sense of humor marked him as a serious character whose decisions could have meaningful consequences.

[quote="In the third chapter that is entitled "Angus" in Forbidden Knowledge was"]Because he was safe, the traffic through his quarters increased as more and more people came to take a look at him: technicians in related fields, motivated by professional curiosity; doctors and other experts who wanted to observe him for themselves; random personnel interested in nothing more than a glance at Hashi Lebwohl's pet illegal. To all appearances, Angus ignored them. The old malice of his gaze was turned inward. As much as possible, he dismissed everything that wasn't an instruction or a question with coercion or pressure behind it.

Nevertheless he noticed immediately when Hashi Lebwohl himself, DA director, UMCP, began visiting him.

Of course, he'd never seen Lebwohl before. And the rumors he'd heard didn't discuss Lebwohl's appearance; they didn't go beyond the insistence that the DA director was crazy--and lethal. Yet he found this visitor instantly recognizable.

In contrast to the clean doctors and immaculate technicians, Lebwohl wore a disreputable lab coat and mismatched clothes over his scrawny frame like a signature. His old-fashioned shoes refused to stay tied. Glasses with scratched and smeared lenses sagged down his thin nose; above them, his eyes were the theoretical blue of unpolluted skies. His eyebrows twisted in all directions as if they were charged with static. And yet, despite his air of having wandered in from a classroom where he hectored Earth's slum kids, everyone else deferred to him. When people passed by him, they gave him a wide berth, as if the charge in him was strong enough to repel them.

Angus knew intuitively that this man was responsible for what had been done to him--and for worse to come.

Hashi Lebwohl visited several times without speaking to him. He conversed with the doctors and techs in an asthmatic wheeze, sometimes asking questions, sometimes making suggestions, which revealed his intimacy with their work. But he didn't say a word to Angus until the evening after the physical therapists had declared him fit for whatever the UMCPDA had in mind.

The time was station night. Angus knew that because his computer had begun to answer simple, functional questions when it wasn't otherwise occupied; also because the techs had just told him to take off his daysuit, put on lab pajamas, and get into bed. Two of them were still in the room, apparently running a last check on his equipment before putting him to sleep. When Hashi Lebwohl entered, however, one of the techs immediately handed him the remote which served as a zone implant control. Then both men left.

At the same time the status lights on all the monitors winked off.

Hashi peered at Angus over his glasses. Smiling benignly, he tapped buttons on the remote with his long fingers.

Involuntarily Angus got off the bed and stood in front of Lebwohl with his arms extended on either side as if he were being crucified.

Lebwohl tapped more buttons: Angus urinated into his pajamas.

As warm salt spread down Angus' legs, Hashi sighed happily.

"Ah, Joshua," he wheezed, "I think I am in love."

Angus wanted to take off his pajamas and ram them down the DA director's throat. However, he wasn't given that option. He was simply required to stand still with his arms outstretched, hoping that his reinforced body could bear the strain.[/quote]

By this point in the story, we know what a brutal creep Angus can be. But it doesn't make Hashi look kindly to use the zone implants to humiliate Angus--rather, Hashi seems to be someone who also likes to manipulate others because he can--at least, in this scene. He's more complicated than that, of course, but I wasn't able to see that yet.
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Post by Savor Dam »

Yes, SRD studiously avoids tipping his hand as to whether Hashi is a Count Rugen character or someone more sympathetic...until it serves the story to be more clear.
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Post by Cord Hurn »

Savor Dam wrote:Yes, SRD studiously avoids tipping his hand as to whether Hashi is a Count Rugen character or someone more sympathetic...until it serves the story to be more clear.
That sounds about right! 8) :thumbsup:
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Post by Cord Hurn »

One of my favorite Hashi quotes is in the following passage: While Hashi has Angus hold still with his arms in the air, Min Donner and Godsen Frik visit, and they talk about the possibility of using Angus to retrieve Morn, and Hashi states he thinks Angus won't be given that assignment. And the three of them refer to a "he" who is giving them orders for a purpose they can't understand.

[quote="In the third chapter entitled "Angus" in Forbidden Knowledge was"]He? Angus thought. He? Were they talking about Warden Dios? The UMCP director?

Who else could give these three people orders?

Did the most powerful man in human space force them to let Morn go with Succorso?

Godsen Frik's voice had a petulant, almost defensive tone as he retorted, "I can go over his head."

Both Hashi Lebwohl and Min Donner looked away from the PR director as if they were shocked--or shamed. Studying the floor, Min said softly, "The way you did the immunity drug."

Dangerous red flushed across Godsen's face; but he didn't respond.

Still addressing the floor, Donner muttered, "I don't like playing this dirty."

Now Frik spoke back. "Oh, don't go all virtuous on us. You've got as much blood on your conscience as any one else. Probably more. Why else do they call you his executioner?

"You brought Joshua here, didn't you?"

"I obey orders," she replied as if to herself. "I trust him. I have to. But we're supposed to be cops. What good are we if we aren't honest?"

Hashi shrugged delicately. "What is honest? We define a goal. Then we devise a means to achieve it. Is this not honest?"

Some of the blood on Min's conscience showed in her eyes as she glared at Lebwohl. "I'm getting nauseous," she growled.[/quote]

What is honest? We define a goal. Then we devise a means to achieve it. Is this not honest? Interesting. While his job, and likely his personal outlook, have influenced Hashi to take great stock in facts, his relationship with truth and conscience is shown to be more slippery and unreliable, with this quote. This helped me understand what Warden Dios says later to Angus that Hashi is "dangerous--not because he comes to the wrong conclusions, but because he gets to the right ones for the wrong reasons."
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Post by Cord Hurn »

Even in this first scene in the Gap Cycle that we have with Hashi, we can see that he places a high value on his own reasoning ability, to the point that he cannot see flaws in his plans. We know enough about Milos Taverner at this point to know that something will go wrong with Milos being part of the planned operation using Angus. Angus knows it, too, and hopes it will work to his advantage. Another thing I noted from this scene is how Hashi uses a measured, careful way to insult Min and Godsen. Hashi's mode of speech is as polished as his appearance is unpolished. This doesn't negate that he has both a condescending and mean side to him, though.
"Don't drag it out, Hashi," said Godsen. "Who is he?"

Hashi Lebwohl beamed.

"Why, none other than our trusted ally and colleague, Milos Taverner."

Somewhere in the back of Angus' mind, a small hope flickered to life.

"Taverner?" Frik spat. "Are you out of your mind? You're going to trust this entire operation to a man like Taverner? He has the scruples of a trash recycler. He's already sold out Com-Mine Security. All we had to do was pay him enough. He's probably selling us, too. If he isn't he'll do it as soon as he's offered enough credit."

"I think not." Lebwohl was unruffled. "We have several safeguards.

"First, of course, a datacore is unalterable. Our Milos cannot effectively issue instructions which run directly counter to Joshua's Programming. And every instruction he gives--indeed, every word he utters in Joshua's presence--will be permanently recorded. Our Milos will be unable to conceal what he has done.

"In addition, his unreliability is known. We have all the evidence we require. If our Milos seeks to betray us, he will be destroyed. We have left him no doubt of this."

Hashi smiled benevolently, then continued.

"In any case, whatever your objections, you must consider the question of credibility. Joshua's partner must appear to be Angus Thermopyle's subordinate. The Captain Thermopyle who is known upon Thanatos Minor would never serve under another--and would never accept as a subordinate any man who was not demonstrably illegal. His programming will allow him to expose his partner's treacheries, to explain--and thereby protect--him. That will leave Milos helpless to do anything other than serve us."

Frik wasn't satisfied, but Min didn't give him another chance to protest.

"No, Hashi." She sounded almost calm. "It's untenable. You can't do it. I wondered why we took Taverner away from Com-Mine, but I assumed it was to cover all of us if he got caught. I never thought you wanted him for something like this.

"He's an impossible choice. You can't give a known traitor control over a weapon like Thermopyle. One of my people is at stake here. I'm going to fight you on this."

And delay the operation? Angus argued in his paralyzed silence. No, don't do it, you don't want that.

Hashi faced Donner squarely. "It has been decided," he asserted. "The director approved the order weeks ago." He paused, then added happily, "I am proud to say that the suggestion was mine. I consider our Milos the perfect choice."

Min bunched her fists, raised them in front of her. But she didn't have anyone to strike. Through her teeth, she snarled, "Lebwohl, you're a shit."

Hashi's eyes narrowed. In a prim wheeze, he retorted, "It will not surprise you, I think, to hear that I hold you in similar esteem."

"Come on, Min." An apoplectic flush covered Godsen's face. "I'm going to talk to the director. I want you with me."

Min flashed a scathing glare at him, turned away roughly, and strode out of the room.

"And when the director refuses to alter his decision," Lebwohl said to Godsen, "you will again attempt to 'go over his head.' This time, you will not succeed. The game is deeper than you understand, and you will drown in it."

Sputtering, the PR director hurried after Min.

When Donner and Frik wre gone, Hashi spent some time playing with Angus before putting him back to bed.
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Post by Cord Hurn »

I think perhaps Hashi's toughest moment in the Gap story is when he allows himself to take responsibility before the GCES for the escape of Milos and Angus and the "theft" of a UMCP scout ship. He knows Warden is planning something, and trusts Warden knows what he is doing, but he doesn't know why Warden has him publicly admitting a mistake in judgement. He is bravely (or foolishly) taking the heat for Warden's plotting when he doesn't know what Warden's long game really is.
In the eleventh chapter of [i]A Dark and Hungry God Arises[/i], the second chapter to be named after Warden, was wrote:"But how to go about learning the truth?" the DA director asked rhetorically. "That was the complex question. If I made my suspicions obvious to Deputy Chief Taverner--for example, by revoking his clearances and authorizations--he would certainly do his utmost to protect himself. Then I might never gain the information I desired. Therefor my best hope was to preserve the illusion that I had reqqed him because of his special knowledge of Captain Thermopyle. There was, after all, no reason why this should not be the truth.

"Indeed, where Captain Thermopyle was concerned, I was daily given reason to believe in Deputy Chief Taverner's honesty. My own interrogations were as unsuccessful as it is possible to imagine. Despite my most advanced techniques--within the limits of the law," Hashi added piously, "I gained nothing which Deputy Chief Taverner had not gained before me.

"Therefore what grounds did I have to treat Deputy Chief Taverner as a suspected illegal? Among the UMCP, we hold the principle sacred that a man is innocent until proven guilty." Hashi was starting to play his part too thickly, but Warden didn't interfere. "The more I interrogated Captain Thermopyle, the more my distrust of Deputy Chief Taverner evaporated.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I did not revoke his clearances and authorizations because I had no evidence against him. Until he released Captain Thermopyle and fled, I had no foundation for my suspicions.

Now Warden cut in. Impelled by the pain in his optic nerves, he asked roughly, "Does that help? You should be able to ask accurate questions now."

"Thank you, Director Lebwohl," said Len. "An admirably lucid account. Do I understand you to mean, then, that the 'error' you made reference to earlier was an error in judgement concerning Milos Taverner?"

"Just so, Mr. President," Hashi agreed placidly, as if he were at peace with the universe.
Warden's plotting to get Holt and the UMC in trouble is risky, as it easily makes Warden complicit in the escape of Angus and Milos, and the plotting would likely come to nothing if Hashi was not willing to play his part and take some of the heat from the GCES. But there is worse to come.
Min Donner sprang to her feet. Radiating outrage, she moved right to the edge of the camera's view. Her fists were clenched to strike out. If Warden hadn't stopped her with a quick glare, she might have jumped at Hashi.

But the DA director appeared oblivious to her fury--or to Godsen's consternation. As if he wanted to make himself look as bad as possible, he added, "I had another reason also. She is a beautiful woman, Special Counsel Igensard. Because of Captain Thermopyle's treatment, we suspect that she is aptly suited to satisfy the appetites of such men as Captain Succorso. We gave her to him to lessen the likelihood that he would turn against us if his mission on Thanatos Minor proved"--pushing up his glasses, Hashi finished--"difficult."

Through the shocked silence which gripped the Council, Igensard said softly, "Director Lebwohl, you used the word 'vileness' to describe Captain Thermopyle's behavior. Don't you think the description fits your own as well?"

Like Min, Warden leaped to his feet. "That's enough!" he roared. "Call off your dogs, Mr. President!" He wasn't worried about Igensard or the Council: his overriding concern was to restrain the ED director before she disrupted what he was trying to accomplish through Hashi.

"I didn't agree to this conference so that my people could be abused," he stated loudly. "I did it because my charter carries the duty of disclosure. But I remind you that there's no duty of consultation. We aren't required to let you second-guess us! We did what we did with Ensign Hyland for the same reason we do everything else--because at the time that seemed like the best way to fulfill our Articles of Mission. It was a gamble, nothing more, nothing less. It either works or it doesn't. Either way, we don't deserve insults from small men with big titles."

If that didn't achieve what he wanted, nothing would.
This guarantees the Governing Council is not just going to let this issue go.
Clearly what Warden wants to happen.
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Post by IrrationalSanity »

As ever, your quote selection and analysis is thought provoking and on target!
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Post by Cord Hurn »

THANK YOU, Sanity! I hope to continue fortifying this thread in the coming weeks/ months, as my free time allows.
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Post by Cord Hurn »

The quotes about Hashi that I will post next in this thread come from Lefdmae Deemalr Effaeldm's chapter dissection from A Dark and Hungry God Arises, being about the Ancillary Documentation about Warden Dios from the extracts from the journal of Hashi Lebwohl.

So, credit where credit is due, so that I didn't have to type so much: THANK YOU, LEFDMAE!
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Post by Cord Hurn »

In the thirtieth chapter of [i]A Dark and Hungry God Arises[/i] was wrote:Instead I might speculate that his avarice is not for wealth, but for power--that he is driven by a desire for godhood, a yearning to attain the stature of unquestionable as well as unavoidable fate for the whole of humankind.

____________________________________________________

And I might further observe that all human aspirations to godhood must fail while the Amnion and death exist.
Hashi may by his own admission lack charisma, but he is full of insight. He realizes aspects of the characters of Holt and Warden that no one else in the Gap story realizes and is on to Warden's game of undermining Holt. Perhaps this awareness and approval of their natures is what enabled Hashi to willingly put himself in the "hot seat" in front of the GCES after Angus and Milos escape: he may not know the details of Waren's plan to neuter Holt, but he approves of the idea in the abstract.
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Post by Cord Hurn »

It follows as naturally as humans fear pain that Warden Dios is not the Dragon's instrument, but rather his natural enemy.
This explains the Dragon's selection of him as director of the UMCP. How better to both defang and profit from a natural enemy than by binding him to yourself, sealing him away within your own structures and exigencies, so he cannot serve himself without also serving you?
_____________________________________________

Grant for a moment that Warden Dios is another Holt Fasner--less confirmed in his lust for power, less eroded in his ability to control it, but another Dragon nonetheless. Precisely because he has been less confirmed, less eroded, he cannot aspire to supplant his nominal master. Yet what other outlets remain for his ambitions? What other needs or priorities might his brilliance serve? And--do not neglect this point--how else can his natural enmity to the Dragon express itself?
Perhaps by identifying himself with the UMCP rather than with the UMC.
Hashi is astute enough to realize that Warden must sully and compromise himself to remain in a position where he can effectively bring down the Dragon when the time appears right.
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Post by Cord Hurn »

Now consider the matter of the immunity drug.
The moment Intertech's research threatens to succeed, the Dragon perceives a threat. If humankind may be immunized against mutagens, the peril of the Amnion recedes. Therefore the necessity of the UMCP--and of its corporate host--recedes. Therefore the logic which sustains that host as the sole conduit for alien trade and wealth loses its syllogistic inevitability.
_____________________________________

But how does Warden Dios respond? Does he permit himself spasms of self-righteousness, as a lesser man might? Does he fall prey to scruples or fainthearted alarms? Does he oppose his putative master, either openly or privately?

Striking with brute force simply wouldn't have worked here, the power imbalance was too much - Warden was wise enough to recognize this, and to do the only really efficient thing - to make the Dragon strike himself.

He does not.

Instead, he persuades the Dragon that Intertech's research must be permitted to continue in secret--in my care, in fact. Employing his considerable resources of eloquence and charisma, he convinces the Dragon that an attained immunity drug--if it were kept secret--would be a tool of unmatched power. He does not stake his argument on the proposition that such a drug could be used to secure the safety of his own people.

Instead, he suggests using, not the drug itself, but knowledge of the drug against the Amnion. By "leaking"--odious term--that knowledge, he can induce them to be more fearful in their dealings with us. They will be at once confirmed in their distrust of humankind and eroded in their ability to act on that distrust. And this development will conduce to the security of the UMC as the sole conduit for alien etc.

How can the Dragon resist such blandishment? Its virtues are too plain to be refuted. The current state of poised but inactive hostility between humankind and the Amnion is reinforced. UMC profits are maximized. And Warden Dios' purity as the instrument of Holt Fasner's will is demonstrated.
And here is one of Warden's--and thus Donaldson's--brilliant paradoxes. Warden Dios can be in a position ot more effectively undermine Holt by making himself such a perfect executor of his will of keeping a power balance between the Amnion and humanity. Warden is crafty, but Hashi is nearly as crafty, with his demonstrated ability in these journal entries to suss (figure) it all out.
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Post by wayfriend »

Warden Dios is no Dragon. Yes, he has ambition and a pragmatism that costs lives. But he serves something bigger than and larger than himself; Fasner serves himself, nothing more. And so Dios could sacrifice himself to take down the Dragon; Fasner would sell out humankind to save himself.

What is interesting about this passage is that Hashi doesn't see that. He sees power and ambition and ruthlessness. But he cannot see deep enough into people to see what really drives them.
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Post by Cord Hurn »

Therefore the commonly held view that Warden Dios is the perfect instrument of Holt Fasner's will is affirmed, is it not?

I think not.

Consider the beauty of this outcome from the perspective of the UMCP. Certainly the Dragon is given what he most desires--the immeasurable and ultimately meaningless satisfaction of his greed. But the more significant, the more effective, benefits belong all to the UMCP. We have the drug itself, to use both for our own security and for the consternation of our opponents.

The risks of actions we have already taken are reduced. The risks of actions which we have heretofore declined are made acceptable. We can manipulate the defensive postures of the Amnion almost at will.

The consequences of humankind's quite natural and comprehensible impulse toward piracy are diminished. We are given a bulwark against the depredations of politicians, protected by the mere existence of our secrets from ham-fisted tampering.

Only Protocol suffers under the burden of secrecy--and such men as Godsen Frik are born to suffer.

Warden Dios has gained all this--and at what cost? At no discernible cost at all, apart from the delicious expense of allowing the Dragon to retain his illusions. And failures of godhood will--they must--derive from any illusion. Thus Holt Fasner has been at once confirmed in his lust for power and eroded in his ability to control it by his most necessary subordinate--his most natural enemy....
Certainly the existence of the mutagen immunity drug, and the knowledge of its existence, gives Warden, Hashi, and the UMCP a formidable position whether it is ever used, or not. Hashi makes the case for that very well, here.
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Post by Cord Hurn »

I have had occasion to note in previous entries that he is my superior because he possesses a quality of charisma--the ability to lead by inspiration--which I lack. In other ways, however, I consider him my only peer--certainly my only peer in the hallowed bastion of UMCPHQ. Yet I must acknowledge that I would have been hard-pressed to manage the crisis which Intertech's immunity research represented as well as he did. Perhaps because I lack charisma, I might not have been able to obtain--as he did--the most desirable of all possible outcomes...
__________________________________________

Yet this is a paradox--at once fertile and dangerous--because Warden Dios' needs and ambitions can never be identical to the Dragon's.

Intertech's immunity research provides a case in point.

At once the Dragon moves to quash the research. It must be removed before it can become the means by which his hold on human space frays away.

So much is predictable, hardly worthy of comment.

His natural enmity to the Dragon is apparently defanged by his implication in the Dragon's disdain for humankind. Once again Warden Dios is subsumed by Holt Fasner's avarice.

Inevitably the Dragon cedes his approval. And so the Intertech research comes to me, to complete and use as I advise--and as Warden Dios sees fit.

_____________________________________-

...having no scruples myself, I do not hesitate to call myself a genius. However, I am more cautious when I apply that name to others...
____________________________________________

I state categorically that Warden Dios is a genius.
Wayfriend is right that Hashi still is bereft of some essential insight into Warden's character. Warden is doing what he is doing for the benefit of humanity, to enable it to get out from the burden and tyranny of Holt's godhood complex. As WF says, Hashi seems to think it's all about Warden wanting more power.

I stated in the dissection thread for this quoted Ancillary Documentation chapter that Hashi's "proof" that he is a genius, as stated in his journal entries, is simply because he says he is. Hashi is right about applying that label to Warden, but not in applying it to himself, smart though he is--in my opinion, of course.
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