  In the representation theory of reductive $p$-adic groups $G$, the issue of
reducibility of induced representations is an issue of great intricacy. It is
our contention, expressed as a conjecture in [3], that there exists a simple
geometric structure underlying this intricate theory. We will illustrate here
the conjecture with some detailed computations in the principal series of
$G_2$.
  A feature of this article is the role played by cocharacters $h_c$ attached
to two-sided cells $c$ in certain extended affine Weyl groups.
  The quotient varieties which occur in the Bernstein programme are replaced by
extended quotients. We form the disjoint union $A(G)$ of all these extended
quotient varieties. We conjecture that, after a simple algebraic deformation,
the space $A(G)$ is a model of the smooth dual $Irr(G)$. In this respect, our
programme is a conjectural refinement of the Bernstein programme.
  The algebraic deformation is controlled by cocharacters $h_c$, one for each
two-sided cell $c$ in certain extended affine Weyl groups. The cocharacters
themselves appear to be closely related to Langlands parameters.
