2: Infiltrator is a novel following up on the story from the extremely popular movies Terminator (1984) and T2: Judgment Day (1991). The book is apparently the first in a series of novels on the subject, but it is not going to be the basis for the new Terminator movie, T3, which is currently scheduled to come out in 2002.
The novel begins mere moments after T2 ended, with Tarissa Dyson, wife of Miles Dyson, the developer of Skynet--the artificial intelligence destined take over the world--receiving a call from John Connor, the boy destined to free the world from Skynet's grip. John informs her that they have succeeded in their mission to prevent Skynet from being built, but that her husband died in the process.
John and Tarissa quickly say goodbye and good luck. Years later, John and his mother, Sarah, are living in South America under false identities, while Tarissa is doing everything she can to accept her husband's heroic sacrifice and build a life for her children. All of them are just beginning to think that everything might turn out okay.
But, as one might guess, this is just the moment when things heat up again. The paradoxes of time travel, human shortsightedness and the fact that all robots will inevitably try to kill their masters make it clear that the price of freedom from Skynet is eternal vigilance and that a monster cut down in one form will rise up in another. Just as the original Terminator was superseded by the liquid-metal T-1000, so that horror is followed here by the I-950.
Whereas T stood for Terminator, I stands for Infiltrator. The I-950 is designed to infiltrate human society over the long term and destroy it from within. It looks like a beautiful woman, and its social skills are far superior to those of its predecessor.
There follows a many-sided, multicontinental struggle. The I-950 works within human society to create Skynet and put an end to those pesky Connors (and rack up a respectable body count in the process), while the Connors work to protect both themselves and the future they thought they'd won.
Time-travelling technothriller
T2: Infiltrator unerringly captures the Terminator movies' essential themes: time travel, implacable robots, the unwillingness of pre-apocalyptic humans to believe warnings from a post-apocalyptic future, the indestructibility of the human spirit and the all-too-real destructibility of the human body.
And not just the themes, but the characters are back as well. It sometimes seems as though every surviving speaking character from the movies has put in an appearance. There's even a new "Arnold" character, with a whole new reason for him to be there, and I guess it wouldn't be Terminator without him.
So far, so good. But is it all just the same story over again? Well, yes and no. Author S.M. Stirling has given both the heroes and villains the benefit of their experience, and everyone is a bit more mature and subtle than they used to be. Skynet's latest plan is far more nuanced than its old ones, and Sarah's desire to not just survive but also have a life is brought across well.
The use of time travel is also more complex. A few hints appear about the nature of time and the difficulty of changing it, and things that at first seem like coincidence may just be the timeline's attempt to repair itself. There isn't much discussion of this, but what's there is is fascinating.
Not everything works, though. While characters' thoughts are portrayed convincingly, the dialogue sometimes seems stilted and unnatural. The repeated use of dialogue that cutely mimics lines from the movies detracts from the sense of reality. And a distressing portion of the book is taken up by a subplot that is not very interesting, and that will apparently become important only in a future book. And sometimes the coincidences are just a bit too much.
But, all in all, T2: Infiltrator is a good read, if not a great work of science fiction. It holds your attention, makes you care about the characters and should occasionally bring you to the edge of your seat. But while it sometimes makes you think, it also sometimes asks you to turn your brain off and just enjoy the ride.
