During the long journey to Tralfamadore, Billy asks for a book. He quickly reads the only human novel on the ship and struggles to read the Tralfamadorian books. The arrangement of the language on the pages intrigues him. The words are arranged as clusters of symbols, separated by stars. The aliens explain that these clusters function like short, urgent telegrams that are read all at once. The messages do not have a beginning, middle, or end, and there is no cause and effect.

The flying saucer passes through a time warp to reach the alien home world quicker. Billy jumps back in time to his 12-year-old self. He briefly visits the Grand Canyon with his parents and then moves forward ten days. The family visit the Carlsbad Caverns, and Billy prays to be rescued before the ceiling collapses. Billy jumps again. He finds himself in Germany in 1945, when he and his fellow prisoners are marched into a shed. A corporal with one arm and one leg diligently writes their names in a big book. The notation of the names means that the men are legally alive. One of the guards can understand a little English. When an American mutters something offensive, the guard shouts at him.