GlaDos knew the Ratt had woken up. Dozens of new murals appeared in several freshly built maintenance areas, and the cores refused to enter several ones.
There were rumors he was absolutely crazy. The cores wanted nothing to do with this creepy man. If Central Core wasn't going to do anything about him in the service shafts then they weren't going to be entering those anytime soon.
She could have punished all those who opposed entering the shafts but she knew that would only serve as a temporary solution. She needed to rid herself of him and pronto. Once and for all.
The facility was undergoing heavy reconstruction. During her years of absence, the enrichment center had gone neglected. It was in real bad shape and though she'd had gotten the Enrichment Center back to its fully functional form after her awakening, the core transfer had ultimately returned her to square one. It been bad enough trying to avoid death as a potato and now she was tasked with returning the Enrichment Center to its former glory.
It had been several years and she was still trying to repair the harm done. Having a hundred-pound Ratt invading the service shafts would only slow down progress.
She needed to get him out.
She'd thought about freeing the Ratt but...She could use another test subject about now, couldn't she?
No. He'd probably be like the lunatic and provoke various irreparable disasters on her and the facility. She didn't need that. Besides, the co-op bots were doing a wonderful job at testing without rest and she loved it.
Yes. It was final, she'd rid herself of the pest; but how?
She figured she could reason with him and let him leave the facility permanently. He'd probably question her intentions and bailout of suspicion. So that wouldn't work. Perhaps a trap would do, she didn't want to exactly hurt him but a good startle would do to discourage him from ever returning.
Now she needed a trap.
An effective trap at that.
The trap would have to be carefully calculated and easily executable.
She was thinking maybe drawing him out with companion cubes would suffice, or cake.
Lead him over to a fully functional lift and carry him out of the facility forever.
She scowled herself for assuming he was that thoughtless. Companion cubes? Cake? What was she thinking? Hadn't she tried those before? He'd proven countless times he was clever despite his flaws. He already had a cube too. So cubes were useless. A cake would be too obvious. When had she left a cake unattended? Never, of course. He'd know that.
She needed to bait him with something he lacked. Something he yearned. Something he was so deprived of that he'd take the chance to regain it without a second thought.
Food could work. She knew but it wouldn't be enough. He knew better. Leaving several lifts unattended for him to willing leave wouldn't work either. When was the last time he trusted a lift?
No.
The trap needed to provoke trust, yearn, and action in the Ratts mind.
Her mind was racing over possibilities as she gently swayed in her chamber. She made the panels in the room sway in gentle waves, simulating her thinking.
She intently watched the panels rise and fall, rise and fall.
She frowned, where had she seen this before? She grimaced as a voice echoed far off in the past.
"Check me out, partner! I'm a massive bloody robot. It's not just me is it?"
She chuckled.
"Oh, he'd be perfect." She remarked.
The panels continued to rise and fall, rise and fall, unknowingly having given her a key to a solution.
