"Yeah. It's like--" She pauses, her hand lifting, a finger tracing a triangle in the air as she fumbles for the idea. "The hierarchy of needs, right? You have to see to your basic needs first: food, shelter, being able to survive. You can't worry about anything else until you see to that. So I think the way this place just snatches you and dumps you here with only the clothes on your back is on purpose. It keeps you from worrying too much, right away, about what's really going on."

And then by the time you start worrying about the bigger picture, you now neatly have everything to lose--your job, your friends, your place in the city. She doesn't think that's by accident, either. Even the fact that you're placed in a cohort has to be part of some bigger design; it gives a person a sense of community from the start, and probably some sense of security that they're not alone.

There's something else, too, something she's been loathe to give voice to, but she's been here nearly a year and a half now, and poked around enough to get a general idea.

"There's also the hope that you can go home. At first. Everyone thinks this is a temporary thing and they'll get out once it's solved. It keeps you from getting invested until you have something to lose."