Junior's return to the house interrupted a lively discussion, in which only Walter did not participate. He was sitting off to the side, humming to himself, and didn't even look up when the panicked young man pushed the door open so hard as he entered that it banged against the wall.

"Junior! What's wrong?" Angie cried.

"I... I just saw my mom," Junior gasped. "And she told me to hurry."

"A family emergency? Do they need you at home?" Peter asked.

"No, you don't understand," Joe explained. "Junior's mother has been dead for many years."

"I see." Peter rose from his chair, walked over to Junior and guided him to the sofa. "Get me a shot of whisky, or something else high octane," he said over his shoulder to Angie, who obeyed immediately. "Now then, son, why don't you tell us exactly what happened."

When Junior had finished his tale - aided by a spot of Bourbon Angie provided - Norrie spoke up. "The mini dome also showed me my mom. In the forest, and I think it was just as she was..." She broke off, the issue of her mother's death still too sore a subject to mention. Joe awkwardly patted her hand to comfort her.

"It appears that thing urgently wants to communicate with us," Peter said. "And some kind of event seems to be imminent. If only we knew what." He turned to his father. "Walter, this would be a good time for one of your theories."

There was no reply, Walter remained sitting in his corner, counting on his fingers and muttering to himself. With a heavy sigh, Peter rose and walked over to him, put his hand on Walter's shoulder and gave him a little shake.

Walter gave a violent start and glared at Peter accusingly. "Must you always interrupt me?"

"Interrupt what, exactly?" Peter asked.

"I was using an ratiocination technique I developed myself. It is based on the game 'We're going on a journey', and it allows me to logically arrange a set of seemingly unrelated data."

"Going on a journey? Are you serious?"

"You remember the game? We used to play it on long drives when you were little. We're going on a journey, and in my suitcase I have pyjamas. Then the next person repeats it and adds..."

"I know how the game works, but I fail to see how it can help in our present situation."

"Well, that's the brilliance of it. You see I started out with 'I have an alien city'. Then I had to decide what picture would be the next logical step, and I came up with 'I have an alien city, and I have a super nova threatening it' followed by 'I have an alien city, and I have a super nova threatening it, and I have an emissary from this race landing on Earth in this barn.'"

Peter had been listening with growing impatience, which now got the better of him. "I think we've all come this far in our conclusion. Skip to the good part - where do the other two images come in?"

Walter cast him a reproachful look. "I was just getting to that when you so rudely interrupted my thought process."

Peter was about to turn away with an eye roll, but Walter caught him by the sleeve of his jacket. "Still, I succeeded so far to narrow down their meanings to two possibilities."

"Alright then," Peter said, returning to his chair and sitting down. "You have our undivided attention."

AN: The prompt for this chapter was to include some sort of game. I hope 'Going on a Journey' is widely enough known. I Germany it's called 'Ich packe meinen Koffer' (I'm packing my suitcase) and it's very common. My family and I did in fact play it on long drives.