Xeeta: Earth's Dying Cousin

By Russ Hagberg

Planet Xeeta is located beyond the range of Earth’s most powerful telescopes and we have no idea that it even exists. Xeeta is a smaller planet than Earth, with a total population of approximately one billion people. They are an older, much more advanced society than any on earth, with technology 500 years ahead of ours.
Unfortunately, planet Xeeta is dying a slow, but certain death. Their sun suffered eruptions 70 years ago which caused permanent damage. Since then, average temperatures on the planet have been steadily declining. After wasting twenty years arguing and debating, the Xeetans finally agreed that global cooling was real! Now, time is running out for life on their beloved planet. Their only hope for saving some of their people is to identify other planets with suitable atmospheres for sustaining Xeetan life.
Earth is one planet that meets all of their requirements. Since their discovery of Earth over 50 years ago, manned spacecrafts from Xeeta have secretly landed in several nations across our planet. Based on these visits, the Xeetans have concluded that the United States is the best fit for their people. They favor a democratic society with a free enterprise economy. Xeetans also share similar religious beliefs with many Americans, and there is plenty of open land in the United States to potentially accommodate a large volume of Xeetan immigrants.
Time is running out. The year is 2028. The question now for the Xeetans is how to make this happen…through negotiations or by the use of their superior military force? A group of Xeetans led by their Vice President, Jan Mayore, pay a surprise visit to U.S. President Gannon Walker. That question will soon be answered!

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9781728370460

Russ Hagberg

Russ Hagberg was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He served as an officer in the United States Army, Military Intelligence Branch. Russ earned a BS Degree in Marketing from Northern Illinois University and an MBA Degree from the University of Chicago. He served in several senior executive positions for both Santa Fe Industries and the Santa Fe Railway, including Vice President of Human Resources and Labor Relations, Vice President of Transportation Operations, and Senior Vice President & Chief of Staff. He also taught Strategic Management and Leadership classes in both the College of Business and the Graduate School of Business at Northern Illinois University, as well as in the College of Business at the Universidad Sergio Arboleda, in Bogata, Colombia. Russ has also served as a Leadership Judge in annual competitions for the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business. Russ Hagberg was a member of the Board of Directors of the Santa Fe Railway, the DM&E Railroad, and the Northwest Suburban Chicago area PADS organization. He is married with five children and five grandchildren. He and his wife, Kris split their time between Illinois and Arizona.

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Copyright © 2020 Russ Hagberg. All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 08/21/2020

ISBN: 978-1-7283-7048-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-7047-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-7046-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020915613

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

This book is

dedicated to my wife, Kris.

Without her wise counsel and encouragement,

it would never have been completed.

CONTENTS

Main Characters

Preface

Prologue

Chapter 1    Desperate Times (1999-2017)

Chapter 2    General Check Attacks

Chapter 3    President Rostenlein

Chapter 4    Planets Earth And Xeeta

Chapter 5    Canada & North Dakota (2026–2027)

Chapter 6    Agents On Earth (1970–2027)

Chapter 7    Buying The Farm

Chapter 8    Kai & Darla Kay

Chapter 9    Xeeta2 Action Plan

Chapter 10    Final Report To Xeeta

Chapter 11    The Xeetan Agent In Dc

Chapter 12    U.s. President Gannon Walker

Chapter 13    Usa Action Plan

Chapter 14    Irma & Shiner Haysen

Chapter 15    Kai Prepares For Visitors

Chapter 16    Kai Meets Ramsil In Dc

Chapter 17    Xeetans Arrive In Washington, Dc

Chapter 18    Meeting With President Walker

Chapter 19    The Private Meeting

Chapter 20    Estimate Of The Situation

Chapter 21    President Walker’s Dilemma

Chapter 22    Xeeta2 Update

Chapter 23     The President Takes A Stand

Chapter 24    Camp David (Day 1)

Chapter 25    Camp David (Day 2)

Chapter 26    President Tells Congress & America

Chapter 27    Asian Stranger

Chapter 28    Congress Votes

Postscript

MAIN CHARACTERS

XEETANS

Ramsil Hunnold – Xeetan agent planted in U.S. as a 19-year old in 1993. Owns his own law firm and is close friends with President of U.S., Gannon Walker.

Jan Mayore – Appointed as Vice President of planet Xeeta in 2026.

Kai Marn – Astronaut, Major and decorated hero in the most elite Xeetan military unit, the Xupremas. Also, doctorate degree in Agriculture.

Zula Byrintin – Appointed first Global President of the planet Xeeta in 1980.

Randal Mitzelee – Won the election to succeed Zula Byrintin and become the second Global President of Planet Xeeta in 2001.

Garlan Rostenlein – Elected third Global President of Planet Xeeta in 2026.

General Ray Orneo – Former Commanding General of all Xeetan Military Forces and a key member of the Xeetan/U.S. negotiating team.

Denman Check – General & Supreme Leader of the nation of Hermania on planet Xeeta, who attains power by assassinating Rolf Arlund.

Dr. Vickii Clabarini – Renowned cancer specialist who participated in research that led to the eradication of all forms of cancer on the planet Xeeta.

Shiner Haysen – Xeetan mining engineer selected to dig and construct underground apartments on planet Xeeta.

Irma Haysen – Teacher and wife of renowned Xeetan mining engineer, Shiner.

Rolf Arlund – First Military Dictator of the nation of Hermania.

General Jers Kamsky – Former Hermanian Infantry Commander on Xeeta who is appointed the first President of Xeeta2.

General Rik Olsenen – Former Commander of Hermanian Air Forces who became President of the nation of Hermania, on planet Xeeta.

Arnt Marn – Xeetan Senator and father of Kai Marn.

AMERICANS

Gannon Walker – Elected to a second term as President of the United States in November, 2028.

Mitchell Brown – Secretary of State, close friend and advisor to U.S. President Gannon Walker.

Darla Kay Green – Young, divorced banker from Napoleon, North Dakota.

Margaret Maggie Ryan – Speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives.

Owen Lee – U.S. Senate Majority Leader.

Jan Walker – First Lady of the United States.

General Karl Olson – Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.

General Randal Chap – Commander of the U.S. Space Force.

James Drury – U.S. Secretary of Defense.

Sven Ericksen – Director of the FBI.

Deena Gonzales – Press Secretary to President Walker.

Ricardo Lopez – Attorney General of the United States.

Ken Robbs – Vice President of the United States.

Anna Taber – Secretary to President Gannon Walker.

Tommy Boltan – Local farmer from Dawson, North Dakota.

PREFACE

Today on planet Earth, I believe that we are in the infant stage of exploring the universe. We are just scratching the surface, having only recently learned about orange dwarf stars and exoplanets. It seems like every other week, our astronomers and space scientists report that they have identified a new planet that might have the characteristics necessary to sustain life, as we on planet Earth define it.

Soon, we will launch the James Webb Space Telescope which will give us a deeper and clearer vision of space than ever before. As our technology improves, and it will, I am confident that it is only a matter of time before we actually find life of some sort on another planet…or, more likely, they will find us first!

This story is about one such highly advanced civilization on a dying planet called Xeeta. The key to this story is that Xeeta is approximately 500 years more advanced than we on planet Earth. Let’s look back 500 years on Earth, to 1520. The only things flying in the air were birds and insects. The principle mode of ground transport was by foot, or maybe a horse, if you were really fortunate. There could be no discussion about automobiles, trucks, railroads, airplanes, jet propulsion, rockets, voyages to the Moon, etc., because it was simply incomprehensible.

The point is that technology will no doubt be developed by 2520 on Earth that is beyond our comprehension today. I would wager that the technological changes between 2520 and today will be far greater in magnitude and impact than were the fantastic changes between 1520 and today! The Xeetans have that level of technology now as applied to space travel. It enables them to travel to Earth, for example. They have learned to combine wormholes with space stations and use the power of natural magnetism to make it happen.

However, space technology is not what this book is about. It is assumed the Xeetans possess the necessary technology because of their 500-year advantage. This book concentrates on their struggle to save the people of Xeeta from global cooling, their plea to the United States for help, and how the President and our people handle the situation.

Read on and you will get to know the Xeetans a lot better.

PROLOGUE

The Dying Planet

Our story begins in Earth Year 1978 (all dates have been converted to Earth’s calendar) on a planet called Xeeta, which is located several light years from Earth. The citizens of planet Earth have no idea that planet Xeeta exists. However, the Xeetans have known about Earth for a long time!

Xeeta is a beautiful planet, with wide mountain ranges, clean rivers, lakes and oceans, exotic wildlife, good life styles, and peaceful living conditions. Large scale wars between nations were almost forgotten as technology eliminated any national advantages while, at the same time, ensuring mutual destruction. Cancer was eradicated years ago. Pollution was stopped at its sources over 300 years ago. Crime is under control, and there is nothing more beautiful than watching the three moons rise majestically over one of the expansive Xeetan oceans! Life is truly wonderful on planet Xeeta!

Unfortunately, the idyllic life that Xeetans enjoy is about to change dramatically in 1978. Most people on the planet don’t know it yet, but Xeeta is dying…a slow, cold death. Their leaders are searching desperately for a new home for their people. One possibility on their list is a distant planet called Earth. The Earth’s atmosphere is identical to Xeeta’s and there are other important similarities.

Life on Xeeta began to change around 1958, although Xeeta’s leadership did not immediately recognize the extent of the problem that threatened to ruin the people’s paradise. Around that time, the Xeetan sun began to have strange, occasional but significant eruptions or storms, which their scientists did not predict in advance or fully understand. This failure, and later a global refusal to recognize the potential consequences, is surprising considering that they were an advanced society, five hundred years ahead of us! These sun-events occurred on and off for about a ten-year period. The planet cooled and crop yields declined as the world of Xeeta became a little colder and slightly darker, with less sunlight on average.

During this time, scientific and political debates raged across the planet. Rolf Arlund, from the nation of Hermania and the only dictator on the planet, was the most outspoken proponent of the theory that these sun-storms and cooler temperatures were no more than a short-term aberration, requiring no major adjustments. We, in the nation of Hermania, will continue focusing on expanding our military power as well as our economy. It is a waste of resources and time to worry about a brief hiccup from our powerful sun! The other side is led by Ruke Mitzelee, the highly respected President of the nation of Zeelund. Ruke argued, If this is the beginning of a permanent cooling cycle, it is a threat to our entire planet. These arguments grew more heated as the average temperature grew colder. Incidents of civil unrest, previously unheard of on Xeeta, began to occur globally.

In the period from 1958 to 1968, the citizens of Xeeta experienced what came to be referred to as global cooling. Worldwide average temperatures declined by almost five degrees F from 57 to 52 degrees, and both ice caps expanded. Then, after ten years (1968), things seemed to settle down. The eruptions and storms on the Xeetan sun’s surface stopped just as suddenly as they had started, and the planet seemed to brighten up to its former levels.

Prior to 1968, Xeeta was already a relatively centralized world with the major nations generally living in peace and cooperation. The nations of Xeeta engaged in worldwide free trade and representatives of all the major Xeetan nations had been meeting quarterly (United Nations of Xeeta-UNX) for the past 200 years to resolve disputes and discuss ways for all nations to move forward together.

A global cooling scientific report was commissioned after the Sun eruptions. This report concluded that the ten-year cooling period was an aberration and the Xeetan sun (estimated to be seven to eight billion years old) had at least another two to three billion-year life remaining. No need to panic was the universal theme communicated to the public, and for the most part, life on Xeeta got back to normal. Despite the report, there were dissenting scientific views and serious protests in several nations across the Xeetan globe. Then, as the sun eruptions ended, the planet began to warm up and brighten up for the next five years. Those who rejected the global cooling hypothesis seemed to have won the argument. Rolf Arlund took every opportunity to publicly mock Ruke Mitzelee and anyone else who was concerned about global cooling!

However, the cooling respite and slight warm-up lasted for only a brief five-year period. Since 1973, the cooling of the planet has continued at a steady pace. The ice caps on both the North and South poles of Xeeta have grown larger, thus making parts of the planet less desirable for habitation and, in some cases, unsuitable for farming. The average temperature on Zeeta actually dropped another two degrees F, making it a seven degree drop in average planet temperature to fifty degrees over the twenty-year period from 1958 to 1978!

By 1978, it became evident that global cooling was a potentially serious problem that might threaten the future existence of the planet. Once again, there were different views on this, as some scientists and national leaders believed that a seven-degree F drop in average temperatures over a twenty-year period was not sufficient to make predictive conclusions for the future. They counseled against overreacting, given legitimate concerns about global panic.

However, the general consensus view among the Xeetan scientific community and shared by the most influential political leaders on the planet was changing. It was now felt that the threat of continued cooling was very real and that nations on planet Xeeta may have already wasted twenty or more years in which they could have done something about it. So, a special session of the UNX was called and each of the leaders of the ten major independent nations on Xeeta came together with the best scientific minds on the planet, to try and figure out what was happening, why it was happening, and what could be done about it.

There were many sub-conferences held and much scientific research presented and analyzed. For the first time, a UNX meeting lasted five full days. The bottom-line scientific conclusion was that while the Xeetan sun did in fact have an approximate two billion-year life remaining, the sun storms that took place back in the 1958–1968 period had caused significant, permanent damage.

The planet’s leaders and climate scientists had definitely shifted from skepticism and denial to a commitment to action. Further, these meetings were closed to the press and the highly confidential conclusion of the scientific studies was not published in print. The bottom-line forecast was that global cooling would continue at an estimated rate of temperature decline of five degrees F every twenty years.

Even direr was the forecast that, of the 1 billion inhabitants currently on the planet, the best-case scenario was that no more than half could survive by the year 2050. The cold temperatures and lack of food would combine to kill the rest. Several scientists were even more pessimistic. Xeeta was slowly, but deliberately, becoming a huge ice ball on the edge of their galaxy!

The situation was certainly challenging, if not yet catastrophic. The good news is that all but one of the diverse nations on Xeeta now finally recognized the threat, embraced the report, and volunteered their resources and best people to achieve the goal of finding a collective solution for the planet. The apolitical nature of Xeeta’s history was now paying off with general cooperation and commitment to finding a global solution! The biggest potential challenge was the Xeeta nation of Hermania, which was led by the dictator, Rolf Arlund. He had a reputation as an egomaniac and a tyrant, but he did attend all of the UNX meetings and listened closely to the conclusions of the scientists.

The challenge now for Xeetans (in Earth Year 1978) was to identify options and formulate an aggressive plan to save the population…or at least as much of it as possible. The question was how to bring the nations and leaders of this planet together to focus all resources on achieving common objectives…and determining who would lead that effort. The clock was ticking and qualified estimates were that they had at best fifty to one hundred years to accomplish what seemed impossible…the successful relocation of several hundred million people!

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CHAPTER 1

Desperate Times (1999-2017)

It was a cool evening in the month of May, 1999. Irma Raditzz was nineteen years old and out with some close friends celebrating her high school graduation. That is when she first laid eyes on the tall, thin twenty-year-old, Shiner Haysen, who was standing by himself at the end of the bar (Eighteen was the legal drinking age for beer only, in bars and restaurants in the nation of Pitterkand). Shiner was dead tired after spending the morning attending classes at the local college where he was studying to be an engineer. He stopped in to have a beer and relax before going to work his part-time shift at a moving company. He paid little attention to the four young girls laughing it up at a table in the adjoining room, and was not aware nor did he care that they had graduated high school earlier that day. He was 6’5" tall, weighed maybe 180 pounds soaking wet, and had short, dark brown hair and a neatly trimmed mustache.

Irma had dated a few boys in high school, but never was serious about any of them. She was a bit shy and always conservative in the way she dressed and acted. She was pretty, athletic, and very bright and she had been awarded a full college scholarship to pursue her dream of becoming a teacher. At times she wondered if she should even waste her time with more education, given the dire forecasts for life on planet Xeeta. She forced herself to think positively and to always believe that her God, Musta, would save them. After her second beer, she could feel her face becoming flushed and she badly needed to use the restroom, which happened to be located just behind where Shiner was standing at the bar.

As she walked past, he noticed her for the first time. Her two beers had kicked-in and she uncharacteristically smiled at him as she walked past. It turned out that the woman’s restroom was occupied and from the sound of things, somebody was sick inside.

As she stood waiting uncomfortably, Shiner noticed her predicament and walked over to where she was fidgeting and said, Hey, go ahead and use the men’s room, lock the door and I will stand guard out here.

She laughed and asked, Are you kidding?

Hell no, you look like you’re about to burst, dancing from one foot to the other like that! Also, the girl that went in ahead of you didn’t look too well, so I don’t think you really want to follow that.

She accepted his offer, did her business, and quickly touched up her lipstick before coming out of the men’s room. Thank you so much, I don’t think I could have held it much longer. Afraid I’m not much of a beer drinker.

He laughed out loud and said, So I guess there isn’t much use then in me offering to buy you another one, huh? Oh, and my name is Shiner, what’s yours?

I am Irma, and it is nice to meet you, Shiner! No thanks on the beer…but I would like a cola with ice.

And that is how a relationship began that would last for many, many years…with Shiner making sure to tease her, whenever the opportunity arose, by telling everyone who would listen that he met her coming out of the men’s bathroom at a local bar. Six months later, despite the protests of both of their parents, Shiner and Irma became husband and wife, with a small reception held in the same bar where they met.

They promised both sets of parents that they both would complete their educations and not have children until they had both graduated. They honored those promises with Irma becoming a 5th grade teacher and Shiner a mining engineer. Their first child, a boy named Kral, was born in 2009 about the same time that they celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary. Life goes on, even on this beleaguered planet!

Meanwhile, Xeetan President Zula Byrintin has announced that she wants to retire soon, and Randul Mitzelee of Zeelund, the grandson of the former President of the nation of Zeelund, Ruke Mitzelee, is a potential successor. Randul is fifty-two years old. He stands 6’ 9" tall with a full head of silver/blond hair. At one time in his early thirties, Randul had a drinking problem and he struggled through various rehab programs, with little positive effect. His wife left him and his life was in shambles.

Then, in his late thirties and shortly after his divorce was finalized, his eleven-year-old daughter, Emilta, was killed in a tragic bus accident on her way home from school. She, and she alone still loved him and Randul took it extremely hard and was close to suicide. Then one night lying all alone in bed thinking about putting an end to his life, he claims to have had a visit from his angel-like daughter. She said, Dad, I love you and will always be with you and watching over you, but never again will I be able to speak to you as long as you are alive. If you really do love me, then Please Do Something to Make Me Proud of You. Emilta then faded away forever. He never saw her vision again, but it changed Randul’s life forever.

He never again has a drink of alcohol, and dedicates his life to helping those less fortunate than he. He is well-known and respected in his community. At the age of forty, he was elected to the Xeetan Senate and became one of the most beloved and respected leaders in the history of the planet. He is known for being honest, fair, and committed to helping lead the people of Xeeta through these extremely difficult times. Along the way, he champions policies that make it easier for Xeetans to make some very difficult adjustments.

The respect that Randul commands is obvious to Global President Zula Byrintin and she appoints him her first and only Vice President during her last term as President. In that role, he travels across the planet explaining the difficulty of the current situation and gaining support for the upcoming relocation policies. These policies will involve relocating large segments of the population currently living in frigid conditions near the polar regions. On one of those trips to the nation of Brightoney, he meets and falls in love with a beautiful, dark-skinned young doctor named Maraleeta. Six months later, they are married and Dr. Maraleeta Mitzelee moves to be with him in the nation’s Capital city of Brutz, Muntania.

With Zula’s support, Randul Mitzelee from the nation of Zeelund is elected by a huge landslide in 2002 to succeed Zula as Global President. Now it is his challenge to lead in the most difficult situation that planet Xeeta has ever experienced.

He begins this mission by using all of his well-earned respect across the planet. On planet Xeeta, the elected leader of the world, as well as the leaders of the separate nations, are entitled to (but not required to) appoint a Vice President (or second in command). That appointment is subject to the approval of the respective governing body. Randul appoints his wife, Dr. Maraleeta Mitzelee. She is a surgeon, specializing in bone disorders in children. She quickly distinguished herself in that field and went on to head the most prestigious hospital on the planet. Randul knows how difficult the upcoming relocations will be upon the people who are forced to leave their homes…as well as the older people who will be left behind. Having an outstanding physician, surgeon, and hospital administrator as his second-in-command will prove to be invaluable. Her approval by the United Nations of Xeeta (UNX) is unanimous and they move together into the elaborate, six-bedroom Presidential Mansion in the city of Brutz.

President Mitzelee also selected key business, government, and military leaders to coordinate the transportation of people, to compensate them for their losses, to provide them with new living quarters, and to help them find new employment opportunities, although not always comparable to the jobs they lost. Once the relocation process begins, he will demand that these citizens be treated with respect and dignity.

Before any forced relocations actually take place, Randul decides that all Xeetans deserve to know the truth about the current situation on the planet. One year after taking power, he addresses the entire population of the nation via SatelVision from the podium of the UNX, in a jam-packed athletic stadium that holds 200,000 people, in the nation of Uniportand. He picks that site because it is close to the North Pole and many of the people who live there will have to relocate.

As the sun shines bright on a particularly cool October afternoon in 2003, he begins his address, My fellow citizens of planet Xeeta, and my friends here today from the nation of Uniportand, we have faced many challenges over the past twenty years and I cannot fully express the depth of my admiration for my predecessor, Zula Byrintin. She will always be in our hearts and I sincerely pray that I can be half as good of a leader as she is!

The huge crowd roars in agreement. Here today, we are faced with unprecedented challenges. Our sun is damaged, and our best scientific minds tell us that it will die a slow but inevitable death. Our average temperatures have declined to 40 degrees F. We are at the point where in the next few years we must take action to ensure the survival of our people and our race. This will no doubt be our most difficult hour, but we are a strong, resilient people. We are determined to survive, and with Musta’s blessing, we shall meet and overcome this challenge! The crowd of UNX delegates and all 200,000 Xeetan citizens rise to their feet screaming their approval in an ovation that lasts for fifteen minutes.

Finally, Global President Mitzelee was able to continue. During these past years, the best minds, the most courageous patriots, and the strong-willed citizens of this planet, all have risen to the challenge. We have banded together towards the achievement of common goals and followed our leader Zula. Importantly, we did this not as citizens of one country or one state or one province…but as the powerful common citizens of planet Xeeta. And make no mistake and have no doubt in your minds that together as one…we shall prevail! This time, the roar from the crowd is deafening and could be heard from monitors broadcasting across all corners of this beleaguered planet.

There are few dry eyes on the planet as Randul continued. Now, I cannot promise you this path that we must take in the near future will be an easy one…because it will not be. But if we come together, then I know that we will survive and live to walk again in the warm rays of a new sun on a new planet. I ask you now for your commitment to unite as one body of Xeetans to make this difficult journey to survive together. If you will make that commitment, I ask that all of you…those here in this stadium and those of you watching and listening elsewhere all across our planet, stand if you are able and join hands with those around you as my pastor, Nelson Jahn, leads us in a special prayer to Musta.

Following the prayer, Randul continues, Thank you, pastor. Now as you all know, during the past ten years, we have made fantastic progress in the development of space vehicles that have given Xeeta the capability to identify and explore possible alternative planets where our people can be relocated and have the opportunity to start new lives. The capacity on our space stations has already been dramatically increased to 500, and we expect to double that in the next ten years. Our exploratory spacecraft can already operate safely at the speed of light and have the capability to descend in only seconds from over one mile to hover safely as low as fifty feet above ground! The crowd rises again with a tumultuous roar.

We have identified four possible planets that have an atmosphere similar to ours and that we can reach, although the journeys will be hard on all of us. Of these four planets, we believe that two offer us the best possible alternatives. Both have been explored by our courageous Xupremas—the crowd cheers in approval at the mere mention of the planet’s most heroic band of brothers and sisters— many of whom have sacrificed their lives in this effort. The first candidate is a beautiful planet that is unnamed and has a small population of very primitive people. With our advanced technologies and the hard work of Xeetan pioneers, we believe that a good life can be established for all Xeetans who move there. We also believe that we can help the native population to develop, advance, and prosper with us. This planet has no established name, so we will call it Xeeta2. The crowd was buzzing and seemed somewhat stunned as the vast majority had heard only rumors about the potential target planets.

The other planet we believe to be an excellent candidate is called Earth. There are approximately four billion people on this planet and they are advanced to a point that we think is about 500 years behind us. There are several separate nations on planet Earth all with their own governments, quite similar to Xeeta prior to the Global Cooling crisis. Once again, our brave Xupremas have for several years explored Earth, while blending in as well as possible and using our superior technology to avoid detection. You see, there are remarkable similarities between Earthlings and Xeetans. We are focusing on one nation in particular that has many resources, vacant lands that span hundreds of miles, and a government that supports freedom and opportunities for all people. Several people in the crowd along with members of the Xeetan press corps were shouting questions as they were hearing about this in some detail for the first time…at least officially.

Randul Mitzelee began again, "Please quiet down…please. I know that all of you listening today have many questions and I promise that all of you, across this planet, will be provided with more details over the course of the next few months. I simply don’t have the time to answer all of your questions here today.

However, there are two things that I do want to talk to you about before I close today. We are not fully ready yet to move any citizens to a new planet. I believe we will have the necessary spacecraft to accomplish such missions within the next twenty to twenty-five years. I am giving you this progress report because you deserve to know what we have accomplished so far. I think that it is important for all Xeetans, and especially those of you who will be required to relocate to warmer portions of our planet, to understand that we have a plan in place and your sacrifices will not be in vain. It will not be easy…but it is necessary for our survival as a people! Also, I want you to have hope and to trust and believe me when I say to you now, WE WILL SURVIVE, SO HELP ME MUSTA! At first, a strange silence spread across the crowd, then it turned into a united cheering of Xeeta, Xeeta, Xeeta as the crowd filed out of the stadium.

Not long after President Mitzelee’s stirring remarks, reality set in on planet Xeeta. Their economic systems varied by country, but were predominately free enterprise or some combination of free enterprise and socialism. Intelligent citizens across the Xeetan globe soon realized that money had no real long-term value. All the money on Xeeta will not save your life, was frequently heard in conversations across the planet. Accordingly, stock markets temporarily collapsed and bankruptcies of numerous companies followed. Money has much less value than the bartering of various commodities such as coal, wood, heating oil, and warm clothing, just to name a few.

A very real challenge facing the average Xeetan is to make sure that their family would qualify to be moved to the warmer climates! Nobody wants to be on the left behind list and the possibility for corruption and payoffs became a real challenge. By 2006, when the full impact of the global crisis was realized, the governments of all nations had no alternative but to nationalize all large companies that would be needed to build more housing.

A separate challenge is to develop new ways to motivate workers to complete the required relocation, construction, and transportation projects. To complicate matters, despite heroic efforts to grow crops in the colder environment, food supplies had declined by approximately twenty percent over the past five years as crop yields fell. Rationing food supplies in government run grocery retail outlets was the immediate solution. In addition, more and more Xeetans started small gardens and farms in their backyards and neighborhoods. In many ways, the calendars were seemingly being turned back hundreds of years.

This was the crisis that President Mitzelee and his cabinet faced at year end 2006. By communicating openly in an effort to share information and gain