"Your section of Mayvos must have been operated with remarkable efficiency and even aesthetics, if 'they have to, economically' is fact that strongly implies 'they will'. There is no Prince who starves. The one who holds theoretical authority over the matter is the Dread Emperor, and it's not obvious that he actually cares if two-thirds of the lightlines shut down."
"My estimate, the lightlines start to run dry after two months, could be a quarter that or fourfold. After that, they actually start to reprice them--they don't reprice right now, that is just way more foresight and proactivity than people have, when they're hoping somebody else fixes the problem instead, and their pricing authority isn't clear."
"In two years, the Princes of the planets that have diminished or expensive lightline access, are so extremely inconvenienced and unhappy and fed up, that they get together in a group and agree something ought to be done. They can't immediately agree on how much they all ought to contribute to pay for something to be done. They do all loudly agree with each other that the Princes of Capital who are available for hire at all, are insolently demanding to be paid far too much for taking command of the Farm."
"Two years after that, either the problem is so bad that they finally stop bickering and meet one of the Capital Princes' prices, or they've gotten used to things being that bad and it never gets fixed ever."
"Or there could be a Prince of the Capital who's always wanted to have free run of a whole Farm full of helpless noble prisoners, and they could take this place over tomorrow."