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disgusting tactic you used,” Gau said, as Sorvalh recounted her encounter with the Deliverance colonists.
    “Well, of course it was,” Sorvalh said. “When you are dealing with disgusting people, you have to speak their language.”
    “And it worked,” Gau said.
    “Yes, it did,” Sorvalh said. “That ridiculous man was happy to let all of the human race die, but when it was just his tiny phenotypical slice of it, he lost his nerve. And he was convinced that we would have done it, too.”
    “You assured the other humans we wouldn’t, I presume,” Gau said.
    “Colonel Rigney, whom I was dealing with, did not need the assurance,” Sorvalh said. “He understood what I was planning from the start. And as soon as I got that wretched man to agree to leave, he and his team had them in shuttles and off the planet. It was all done by local sundown.”
    “Then you did well,” Gau said.
    “I did as you asked,” Sorvalh said. “Although I do feel bad about the goat.”
    “I’d like for you to keep this back channel with Rigney open,” Gau said. “If you work well with him, maybe we can keep out of each other’s way.”
    “Your consideration of the humans is going to become a sticking point, General,” Sorvalh said. “And although this one meeting went well, I think that sooner or later our two civilizations are going to be back at each other. No back channel is going to change that. The humans are too ambitious. And so are you.”
    “Then let’s work at making it later rather than sooner,” Gau said.
    “In that case, you’ll want this,” Sorvalh said, and took the manuscript page from her robes and gave it to General Gau. “Let the information on it—all of it—find its way to Representative Hado. Let him bring it to you in the Grand Assembly. And when he does, announce that you have seen the list, too, and that our forces have been to each of the planets and found no record of human habitation—as they will not, because the Colonial Union was thorough in removing traces. You may then accuse Hado of warmongering and possibly fabricating the document. You will break him there, or at least damage him for long enough that he will cease to be a factor.”
    Gau took the document. “This is what I mean when I say you are scary in your own special way, Hafte,” he said.
    “Why, General,” Sorvalh said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Also by John Scalzi
    Old Man’s War
    The Ghost Brigades
    The Android’s Dream
    The Last Colony
    Zoe’s Tale
    Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded
    Fuzzy Nation
    Redshirts
    Edited by John Scalzi
    Metatropolis

About the Author

    JOHN SCALZI is the author of several SF novels including the bestselling Old Man’s War and its sequels, and the New York Times bestsellers Fuzzy Nation and Redshirts. He is a winner of science fiction’s John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and he won the Hugo Award for Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded, a collection of essays from his wildly popular blog Whatever ( whatever.scalzi.com ). He lives in Ohio with his wife and daughter.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
    HUMAN DIVISION #6: THE BACK CHANNEL
    Copyright © 2013 by John Scalzi
    All rights reserved.
    Cover art by John Harris
    A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
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    Tor ® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
    e-ISBN: 978-1-4668-3056-1

 
    The Human Division
     
    John Scalzi’s stirring new novel in the universe of his bestselling Old Man’s War
     
    New e-episodes will appear every Tuesday from January 15 to April 9, 2013, on all your favorite e-book sites. Don’t miss a single one:
     
    January 15: The Human Division #1: The B-Team
    January 22: The Human Division #2: Walk the Plank
    January 29: The Human Division #3: We Only Need the