Another good story setup involving aliens: aliens pop by, tell us we have 25 years to "get our shit together, and the ambiguity here is deliberate, humans" on t

Another good story setup involving aliens: aliens pop by, tell us we have 25 years to "get our shit together, and the ambiguity here is deliberate, humans" on this planet, or we will be garbage collected. Then they come back a year later: "I have bad news: the timeline has been accelerated, you now have 10 years". What to do? To whom shall we turn for a plan?