Apogee

You woke up. You don't know why.

75,000 feet. Lower stratosphere. The horizon curves below you. The battery is draining, the descent motor is seized, the flight log is blank. You're in the cockpit of KINGFISHER, a high-altitude survey craft, and you don't remember how you got here.

Below you, the world is fine. Nobody is looking up. You're not in danger of dying. You're in danger of being forgotten.

Work the problem

Start by hand-cranking the generator to restore power. Get the engine running to charge the battery and buy yourself time. Deploy solar panels. Run electromagnetic sweeps to collect data. Every system you bring online opens new possibilities and every minute drains power you can't afford to waste.

As you collect data and earn research points, upgrades come online. Manual tasks become automated. The aircraft transforms from a failing wreck into something capable. Something that can reach further.

The Halcyon Network

Your navigation map reveals a forgotten grid of high-altitude stations: the Halcyon Network, decommissioned years ago. Most stations went dark. Some didn't. Spend xenon fuel to travel between relay nodes, outposts, trader stations, and remote probes. Each destination brings new resources, upgrades, and encounters.

FENN — a technician who received the shutdown order and stayed anyway. First friendly voice you'll hear.
MIRROR — an AI running a trade station alone for eleven years, waiting for a crew that isn't coming back.
DISPATCH — the network's coordination intelligence, stuck in a forty-one-year loop, cycling between lucid moments and echoes of stations that no longer exist.

The signal

Your sweep data carries more than telemetry. There's a pattern in it: structured, repeating, too complex to be noise. It's been echoing through the Halcyon grid for decades. Nobody was listening.

You're listening now.

Features

• Idle management with active mechanics that automate as you progress
  
• Power and fuel loop: hand crank, manage voltage, burn fuel to keep systems running
  
• Electromagnetic sweep system — manual at first, fully automatable
  
• Upgrades and instruments that expand your aircraft's capabilities
  
• 2D waypoint navigation map with relay stations, outposts, traders, and probes
  
• NPC encounters with distinct characters and evolving relationships
  
• A mystery that unfolds through exploration, data collection, and transmissions
  
• A second economy of contraband upgrades from a drifting black-market dealer
  
• Retro avionics terminal aesthetic with monospace fonts and color-coded readouts