"Ah, but you see," she holds up her little finger for emphasis, "all those neutralizers are under Imperial AI control. Those AIs are supposed to be incorruptable, but I know they aren't. I broke Horanckk's control codes, and he survived. So if there was an occasion where there was going to be a lot of high-speed transit to Fle - say, a coronation - AND I had Horanckk study and subvert and seduce every AI controlling those neutralizers - AND I was able to get a large enough projector made, and get it into position at just the right time - then yes, I could do it." Her shoulders slump. "But then either Horanckk needs to keep his control on them - setting up a new AI dictatorship in place of the old - or release them, with their controls gone, and hope that none of them go insane.

"Overthrowing a dictatorship is never as easy as it looks in the vids. There it's always 'You defeated the evil emperor, we'll all be fine now' while reality has war, famine, blackmail, hate-hunts... It's like disassembling a building, while it's toppling, and assembling a new one out of the bits before it hits the ground."

"No," she shakes her head. "I could never take credit. It would be too damn suspicious - one Living Person left, everyone would think that I was going to set myself up as a new Empress, with the AIs under my control. Everyone would be out for my head. I'd have to be anonymous all the way, maybe get surgery to change my race, or just transfer myself into dataspace as an AI. There'd be no thanks for me. Curses, more likely, from everyone who was at least fed while they were under the collar, and now everything falls apart and they have to scrabble."