Viable Replacement

She stares at the orange sky though she knows she won't see them--the twenty-three generation ships saving those lucky few from the dying Earth. She limps back home, where her parents await at a table that usually sits four. They eat in silence, thankful that Micah floats twenty kilometers above. He is a mediocre doctor. She was always better, more accomplished, more focused. Years of practice in warzones and disaster sites, she learned where to break a leg perfectly to condemn the owner to a life on crutches. Micah was lucky. The system favors qualified siblings as viable replacements.