My name used to be Albert before, but as I passed out from anger at a market waiting-line to get my monthly food supplies, when I finally reached the first in line I was received with two pieces of old rock solid bread and a cup of rise for the whole month to cook, I suffered an instantaneous heart attack but to my unfortunate fate I reincarnated in another world as what I detested the most in my previous life, the son of a dictator. The full control of this planet was controlled by the Castra family, feared by everyone, detested by most and  loved by fools. My new name is Raulus Castra. I am the new heir of the Castra family. I’m only 5 years old, but I have all the painful memories of my past life in a communist country.

This planet looks and feels exactly like Earth, except for being really small. The whole planet could be traveled around on horseback in about 5.5 months. This planet is called Ceres, just like the largest object in the asteroid belt in my past life. I quickly realized this was like an alternate universe. Maybe this is all a coincidence; it literally feels like this planet is the size of the entire United States put together as a globe. I know this because my dad has to travel a lot throughout the whole country in order to keep a tight grip on the people. So, in just five years of life, I have already seen all of my planet.

I confirmed this once I started to attend school and discovered that this world is more advanced than Earth in more ways than one. We have multi-planetary travel, trades, and wars.  Most planets in this solar system have intelligent life. Ceres, however, is the poorest and most primitive planet in the solar system. I guess communism has one thing in common no matter where it is implemented: it creates poverty and takes away people’s freedom. I know better than anyone the effects of communism since I come from Cuba. Weirdly enough, the story of this country is just like that of Cuba and Venezuela.

It used to be a very prosperous country, capitalist, freedom-based, and with free elections until a pandemic hit the whole world. The big pharmaceutical enterprise named Castra orchestrated a virus spread in the whole planet and then offered the people a solution in order to save everyone. They came up with an antidote. The only catch was that, in order to do everything they needed, the country had to be surrendered to them. Obviously, the government declined this offer, but the people got angry and desperate to survive. The head of the Castra enterprise, Fifo, organized a revolution and rallied all the people to fight for survival. Fifo’s revolution fought for “freedom” while he orchestrated everything from behind the scenes, many lives were lost until he achieved his revolution wwithouteven touching a weapon himself.

The Dictatorship’s Rise

The first thing my dad, Fifo, head of the Castra family, did when he triumphed in his revolution was exactly what Relti wrote in his manifesto. My dad followed what worked for Relti like a Bible. He convinced the whole country to give up their right to bear arms. He also took control of all the media companies so that he could control the narrative, making himself look like a hero and savior. If you control the media, you have the power to change what people think.

My dad also had great charisma and was really good with crowds. He took control of the entire military, removing any opposition swiftly and effectively. He arranged “accidental” deaths for his closest and most popular men. He wanted no competition. He exploited the previously good economy that this planet had and used it to give everyone free education and healthcare. On the day Fifo Castra triumphed in his revolution, he held a massive rally encouraging all the poor to steal and riot against private businesses because no one was allowed to have more than anyone else—equality for all. Behind that action was a rule he understood correctly: money equals power. He made sure that no one on Ceres could grow their net worth because everything was controlled by the tight hands of the new Castra government.

Millionaires who saw this coming fled the country as soon as Fifo won, right before he sent the military to take control of the spaceport. Many others committed suicide as they saw all their life’s work fade right in front of their eyes. He also learned that you need to give the people a bad guy, someone to hate and someone to blame for all their problems. Planet Astra became that for Fifo. He blamed all of Ceres’ struggles on Astra, the solar system’s most prosperous planet. Before the revolution, Ceres used to be a colony of Astra.

Ceres was a major exporter of sugar, coffee, tobacco, and precious metals, as well as petroleum. Ceres depended heavily on more advanced civilizations to provide specialized engineers and machinery for material extraction, collection, and manufacturing of basic needs. Ceres was still behind in technology compared to other worlds in its solar system.

Ceres Under the Castras

Our solar system is very similar to the one Earth has, almost identical in the number of planets and their sizes. But they are much closer together, and almost all of them have intelligent life. Ceres is a lot like Pluto but more meaningful in this solar system. Ceres was beloved by everyone. People enjoyed our tobacco, sugar, and coffee, as well as our precious metals and petroleum. But when the revolution triumphed, most planets agreed to apply an embargo on the Ceres government under the Castras. The embargo was easily bypassed because individuals could still commercialize without repercussions.

Fifo played many political games in solar politics. He sent troops to other worlds to aid them in wars. He sent doctors and teachers as well. But from within, Ceres was deteriorating day by day. Following the universal law: nothing in the world is constant. If it’s not improving, it’s getting worse, dying.

Ceres enjoyed good infrastructure for about 20 years after the revolution, with very minimal to no maintenance. Resource production got worse. Quotas could not be fulfilled. The universe continued to advance and grow more technological, while Ceres regressed year by year. Fifo, being as smart and cynical as he was, started a massive propaganda program with other planets, enticing them to invest in Ceres’ beaches, which were the most beautiful in almost the entire solar system.

He partnered with many entrepreneurs and built all-inclusive resorts and hotels along Ceres’ beaches and islands. These were top-notch, five-star-plus all-inclusive resorts. Money flowed in as Ceres was flooded with tourists. The entire country’s economy became reliant on tourism. People from other worlds came to Ceres to enjoy the sight of old cars, outdated architecture, and the humble people with their peculiar music and dance. It was a paradise for vacations.

Years passed, but oppositors kept rising and being locked up in jail. Astra denounced Fifo for all his wrongdoings and for implementing a dictatorship in Ceres. Astra had previously fought many wars in other worlds against communism and dictatorship planets. Their goal was to create a solar system where everyone would have the right to be free and choose their leader.

Astra welcomed refugees fleeing communist planets, including those from Ceres. Fifo took advantage of this, deporting prisoners and the mentally ill to Astra. This, however, would later benefit Ceres, as expatriates sent money back to their families in Ceres, becoming one of the country’s main sources of income.

The Transition of Power

When my father died, I inherited this broken system. Food production hit an all-time low. Hotels and resorts were affected by shortages, and energy production plants constantly failed, leaving the planet completely blacked out for hours a day. Ceres couldn’t even keep up with its basic needs while the rest of the planets were innovating with food labs and 3D food printers commercially available to the public.

Add to that the massive amounts of money being funneled into maintaining the luxurious lifestyle of the Castra family. The planet’s debts to other worlds in the solar system piled up. To maintain their grip, the regime resorted to blackmailing entrepreneurs who had invested in Ceres, using compromising footage of them engaging in illegal activities such as drug use, underage relationships, and violence—activities fueled by the chaos of a dictatorship.

Tourism started to decline. Blackouts became more frequent and longer in duration. Hunger became the norm for almost everyone except those at the top of the dictatorship pyramid. Other planets began to demand repayment of their debts and refused to provide further aid to Ceres. Riots began erupting across the planet, but Fifo continued to deploy troops to suppress them. His strategy was to maintain just enough control to outlive his reign. And he did.

By the time my father died, Ceres had suffered decades of hardship under his rule. He left behind nothing but misery for the people and unearned luxury for those in power. Now that my father is gone, I am the new dictator. But the question remains: how do I fix this?

The Beginning of Reform

At 25 years old, I was young, surrounded by power-hungry communists who thrived under the corrupt system my father had created. I knew that the simplest way to save the country was to surrender it to Astra. But the moment I proposed such an idea, I’d be marked for death. So, I had to come up with another solution—something radical yet familiar.

I proposed a communist country with a capitalist market. This idea was met with resistance, as my father strongly disapproved of giving any power or wealth to the people. But my father misunderstood one thing: what he created was a temporary fix that couldn’t sustain itself. The lack of food, water, and energy would eventually cause the system to collapse. The government couldn’t control everything. We needed to outsource our infrastructure while maintaining centralized oversight.

I realized that plans, graphs, and data wouldn’t convince the elder leadership. They weren’t interested in solutions—they wanted to cling to their parasitic lifestyles. Wherever they went, people, out of fear, treated them like royalty. Power was their drug, and they wouldn’t willingly give it up.

A Ruthless Plan

I had to get cynical. To implement change, I first passed a mandate requiring all high-ranking officers—decorated military officials who owed their positions to my father—to be sent on a diplomatic mission to a nearby planet, Vietgan. Vietgan was just exiting a war with Astra, a war that had been sparked by their attempt to implement a system similar to Ceres’ communist model. Vietgan won only because Astra decided it wasn’t worth further intervention.

I secretly arranged for the transport plane carrying these high-ranking officials to explode before reaching Vietgan. The explosion was blamed on Astra, rallying public sentiment against them. The tragedy served a dual purpose: eliminating most of the hierarchy within Ceres and consolidating my control.

Next, I surrounded myself with a trusted circle of friends I had made during my time studying in Astra. My father, ironically, had sent me there for education, recognizing its superiority despite priding himself on Ceres’ supposedly top-notch free education. (In truth, Ceres’ educational system only lasted a few years before collapsing due to lack of funding.) My friends from Astra helped me secure top-of-the-line security and professional assassins.

I hired a team of experts who specialized in creating “accidents.” Slowly and steadily, I began eliminating the tumors that had plagued Ceres for so long. Before each target met their untimely demise, I ensured they wired all the wealth they had stolen from the people of Ceres into my account. By the end of my purge, I was astonished by the sheer amount of money I had accumulated—billions.

This fortune, combined with the wealth I inherited from my father, gave me the resources I needed to start rebuilding. It wasn’t enough to pay off all of Ceres’ debts, but it was enough to earn back some trust and credibility.

Implementing Change

I began openly discussing the idea of a capitalist economy during rallies and on state-controlled media. When I announced the reforms at a live event, the reaction from the crowd was unforgettable. For the first time in decades, I saw people’s faces light up with hope. They believed the change they had longed for was finally here.

I traveled to Astra and met with the entrepreneurs most interested in reinvesting in Ceres. Many of them had lost fortunes during my father’s reign. I proposed repaying half of their losses upfront and offering them opportunities to reinvest in Ceres tax-free. I also promised them control over key infrastructure projects.

Most importantly, I ensured that these projects would yield significant profits for them once the economy rebounded. My offers were too tempting to refuse. As word spread of Ceres’ zero-tax policy, other entrepreneurs from neighboring planets flocked to invest. The only condition I imposed was that jobs on Ceres would not be fully automated. Human employment had to remain a priority.

Within three years, employment levels on Ceres exceeded the planet’s population, with jobs being offered to workers from other worlds. Despite the cost of paying all workers, it was still cheaper to produce goods on Ceres than on more advanced planets. I allowed limited automation for certain tasks, with laws ensuring robots could easily be replaced by humans if needed.

A Bright Future

In just 20 years, Ceres’ currency rose to become one of the top three in the solar system. The planet began to thrive, but there is still much work to do. While I’ve gained the love and admiration of the people, I remain haunted by the blood on my hands. I’ve eliminated countless lives and relied on fear to enact my reforms. I’ve built an economy on the ruins of my father’s tyranny, but I often wonder if I’ve truly saved Ceres or simply delayed its eventual fall.

The journey isn’t over. There is still so much more I’ve done—and so much more to tell.