By the classic Rackoff argument in d-dimensional Vector Addition System with States (d-VASS) V if there is a path starting in configuration s and covering configuration t then there is also a covering path of length at most Mk, where M is the maximal number occurring on transitions of VASS and in configurations s and t, while \(k \approx 2^d\). Therefore for each fixed d there is a path of length polynomial in M.
We conjecture that a much stronger property holds, that there is always a covering path of length \(f(size(V)) \cdot (size(s) + size(t)\), namely depending in some way on the size of VASS V, but only linear with respect to the size of source s and target t.
I think this conjecture is hard to prove despite of a simple formulation and progress on it could led to a deep understanding of runs of VASS.