In a solemn gathering at the spiraling coral towers of Breymir, citizens offered their respects to the Breymir Refractive Toll Authority, a once-revered institution now rendered utterly irrelevant by the Zol-ka-mret-su Orbital Ad Array. Established with the noble purpose of collecting tolls for cosmic passage, the Authority has languished since its last recorded entry in 1953. This substantial ledger, preserved within a coral vault untouched by any refractionist's gaze, has become a relic of a bygone era.
The turning point came with the introduction of orbital billboards, which have proven remarkably adept at transforming unfortunate pilot collisions into 'visibility events'—a phrase now celebrated at local galas. According to the latest reports, a staggering 312 pilot obliterations were logged last orbit, each earning premium visibility credits which, ironically, will not be spent on public works but rather on polishing the very billboards that caused the catastrophe.
"We were all about the tolls, but that was before space got a little too... bright," lamented Clork-Ja-ven, the Authority's last operational ledger clerk. In a shocking twist, surviving fungal intelligences have mandated the reassignment of the remaining clerks to the lucrative task of billboard polishing, a career transition they are assured will be both rewarding and increasingly visible.
The Breymir Refractive Toll Authority now gathers dust in the vaults of cosmic commerce, a reminder that celestial paths bend toward the glow of advertisement.
