The citizen ran through the streets of the first layer bumping into pedestrians but not seeming to notice. Pieces of paper would fly from the large stack he was carrying. He also did not notice, as he never did, the occasional spots of moss or rust on the metal walls, metal sidewalk, and metal buildings on his way to work.
Stelvin Solartis started out having a peaceful morning. He arrived at the station late as usual. The schedule was rather slow. Besides a few minor cases, nothing too interesting drew his attention.
He continued his normal routine, which included leaving his office for a long coffee break at 11:00. The coffee room was on the other side of the station. He walked through the various offices and cubicles, hearing the sound of phones ringing, the typing of keys, and the muted conversations between coworkers about things work related and not.
He ran into a young woman on his way to the break room and introduced himself. Taking himself too seriously, he awkwardly put his hand out and shook her hand, "Stelvin Solartis Junior Detective and Public Servant, at your service."
"I investigate the most high crimes and deliver swift justice to provide order in our great City, Natovis. I can't help to notice the unfamiliar face of a young lady, what is it that you might be doing among Natovis' finest?
She looked at him strangely, because if the reader has not guessed it already, was kind of strange, then plainly said "Well that sounds like an interesting role. I will be working at the front desk, taking statements, and stuff..."
Pointing to himself, continuing to be overconfident he said:
Well, I wish you well in your endeavors Madamoiselle. If you have any further questions, you don't need to look far to get assistance from the very best!"
He finally got to the the break room. He excitedly got to the coffee machine, picked up the pot of coffee and began to pour. Only a few drops of coffee came out. As he knew from doing it every morning it seemed, Stelvin made a new pot of coffee.
He did not pay attention to anyone else in the room until he began brewing the coffee.
After the coffee started brewing and started to fill the pot, one of the officers came up to Stelvin.
"Ah Stelvin has saved us again!" As the coffee started to brew, everyone in the break room started to line up with their coffee mugs with really bad jokes and cliche slogans written on them.
One of the senior detectives loudly said "Stelvin has solved the Case of the missing coffee again. I guess we will need to promote him to Steward of the Coffee!" Everyone that could hear him speak, laughed.
He chatted with a few coworkers, then came back to his office with a large cup of coffee and two donuts, sat down at his desk, and turned on the television.
He had only finished half of his first donut, and was taking his first sip of coffee, when he choked, then spit out the coffee all over the files of the minor cases in shock. He knocked over the coffee mug holding the remainder of his coffee when he tried reaching for a napkin, making even more of a mess as he tried to pay attention to the broadcast. He only cleaned about a quarter of the spill when he stopped to pay attention to the television continue.
"Good Morning Natovis, residents of the Upper Layers. We interrupt the normal scheduled programming to bring you some breaking news. A new update has been made on the famous Eleenya Cosmosteeya case, a case we have heard nothing about for years. All we know at this point is that an undisclosed citizen has given information to the authorities that could lead to her findings."
It sounded like whatever this case was, it sounded pretty important. This excited Stelvin as he was tired of the smaller cases he had been working on for the past 3 years. He saw this as a chance to prove himself and perhaps be more than the B team in the detective department of the police force.
The Eleenya Cosmosteeya case was a tragic case indeed. The case began a little more than twenty years ago. Eleenya Cosmosteeya, who lived in the very top layer, the layer with the lowest level of crime, was snagged by a group of masked individuals (the detectives guessed they were male, but this is about all they could reasonably conclude from the footage).
As Eleenya was being carried off, they were pursued by the police. The cameras were able to track the individuals for a while, until the individuals reached around the eighth floor down from the top floor where Eleenya was first taken. Eleenya's kidnapping would kick off a series of kidnappings that would continue to the current day. What made the case so much of interest was it was the only case where the kidnapping was recorded.
There were no cameras past the eighth floor of the city. A large amount of the population lives down there, but the activity past that point is little known. It is either deemed too dangerous, or a waste of resources for the authorities to know much of what goes on past that point. It is estimated that there could be over 1000 floors in existence down from the top floor, though no one knows for sure.
There was an endless amount of ideas the people above had. The people above truly had no idea what lay below. Some theorized that perhaps there were entire communities of different cults, worshipping something different depending on the community. Some citizens above even speculated that there were entire cities whose only inhabitants were robots whose minds operated independently from any controls.
As Stelvin reached for the second donut, he continued to fathom what it would be like for his career if he could be put on a case like this. Many thoughts crossed his mind so much, that he forgot about the spilled coffee all across his desk.
Stelvin knew one thing was for certain. The case was to be opened. He wondered a few things though: One, what is this "information" they described on the news that has been reported to the authorities? Two, who is this individual that came forward with the information? Three, why did this individual take 20 years since the crime occurred, and over 15 years since the closing of the case to come forward? And four, would this information be helpful to solving this case?