The Population Clause by Edward C Distel

Humanity got its miracle in 1947: a species called the Kalyth, arriving with open hands and a promise of worlds beyond Earth.

Humanity got its explanation the same year — and has been living inside it ever since.

The Off-World Settlement Lottery is the most trusted institution on the planet. It has sent millions to new worlds, celebrated for a century as the greatest opportunity humanity has ever been given.

Dr. Mara Vale used to believe that too, before her sister was selected and the reserve world of Adarne swallowed her whole. Now a data irregularity has put a name to a pattern that stretches back three generations — through a linguist who noticed a translation too perfect to trust, a geneticist who saw the same traits selected far too often to be chance, and an office built to make sure no one ever saw the pattern at all.

Mara is done not asking. What she finds will not be forgivable, comfortable, or easy to unknow — and once she publishes it, there will be no lottery left to trust.

THE POPULATION CLAUSE — some settlements were never meant to be survived.