"It's to do with this medium the ship is traveling through. The Bleed, the space between the dimensions. According to the ship, being here can cause people's souls (the ship calls them avia) to erode, and the only cure for this erosion is to be put back into the pods.

"People are constantly being taken into a subsection of the ship that is not accessible otherwise, and tested to see if their avia are in danger. So," a shrug and a sigh, "people disappear, with no warning, and can be gone for any period of time including indefinitely."

"That, plus the difficulty of getting an accurate reading as to exactly how much time is passing or has passed - another side effect of the Bleed, I suspect - and, well, people try. They do try. The departments can usually keep some sort of schedule and staffing going, but there's nothing shipwide at this point."