GAS FEES IN 200 METRES.

It had been a long drive.

We sat parked below the monolithic ETHO signboard delineating the border between the city limits and the Metaversal Highway. The hypnotic whirling of propellers was a welcome change from the numbing monotony of highway ad-space trying to sell us dubious digital land which we would be unlikely to sell-on for a profit this side of 2030.

Further up the highway and beyond the neon lights a particularly ominous looking GAS toll blockaded the flow of traffic entering the digital city. I lifted my eyes towards the board and sneaked a glance at the price of GAS. 'Astronomical!' 'Oof!' 'Cringe.' echoed throughout the car. Happenings elsewhere in the Metaverse were obviously keeping the miners busy; and happy to boot.

We sat in silence contemplating how much better our lives might have been if we had chosen to be miners instead of art flippers. We comforted each other with the fact that Ethereum had recently reached a new all-time high, dampening that wave of existential dread which only exists within the shadowy realms of hindsight. We just prayed that our DeFi debtors would not come knocking before our next series of successful flips.

A glowing timer projected onto the windshield of the rental car displayed a little under 23 minutes remaining on the contract for the lease. I argued that it would likely be cheaper to have the car forcibly taken from us and for us to be fined, opposed to returning it and paying the GAS fee required to close the contract itself. Upsettingly, no one seemed to disagree with my hypothesis.

Angrily stepping out of the doomed rental, I snatched a hefty, pointed rock from the damp ground below and launched it towards the ETHO signboard. With a flash and crackle of light, the screen displaying the grotesque GAS fee estimations was no longer. I briefly gloated to myself, content with the quality of my work before the dread and realisation set in. I gasped out loud. 'Wait, that wasn't traceable was it?' My colleagues glanced at each other and up at the shattered screen before looking back to me.

'It's on the blockchain now, bro.'