T2: Infiltrator by S.M. Sterling

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DOUBLE REVIEW: T2: Infiltrator by S.M. Sterling & T2: Rising Storm by S.M. Sterling

Pub: Gollancz. 499 page paperback. Price: £ 6.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-575-07371-3.

Gollancz. 378 page enlarged paperback. Price: £ 9.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-575-07156-7.

Check out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk

A decade after 'T2: Judgement Day' turned Arnie into a good guy come the first official 'Tie-In' books to continue the story of Sarah and John Connor. 'T2: Infiltrator' is set six years after the events of the film and four years after the day which was supposed to be Judgement Day.

The Connors are attempting to live a quiet, normal life. Their definition of 'normal' and 'quiet' being somewhat different from some people, of course. Sarah, now going by the name of Suzanne Krieger and passing herself off as a widow, owns a small business in Paraguay and runs a smuggling operation on the side. John, now 16, is top in his class at a military academy and training himself to become the great military leader the future shows him to be.

But Skynet, the sentient computer system which they destroyed in 'T2: Judgement Day', is still lurking in a shadowy, uncertain future. A third type of terminator is sent back to the start of the 21st century. An Infiltrator named Serena Burns, who, being part human and part machine, can slip undetected into society and ensure Skynet's creation and the destruction of Sarah and John Connor.

The Connors soon realise their peaceful life is about to be shattered when they meet their new neighbour, an Austrian who bares an uncanny resemblance to the original T-101 (Arnie-style) Terminator. Dieter Von Rossbach is an ex-counter-terrorist and, after an eventful first meeting and a first-hand encounter with a Terminator for Dieter, he agrees to help the Connors continue their fight against Serena, Skynet and Cyberdyne (the company which originally created Skynet).

Fighting against time, Terminators and their misguided human allies, Sarah, John and Dieter trace Cyberdyne's trail to California and a hidden military base where a woman named Serena Burns just happens to be Head of Security. There they encounter an ex-FBI Agent named Jordan Dyson.

Unfortunately, Jordan Dyson is the brother of Miles Dyson, the Cyberdyne scientist who created the technology to build Skynet and who killed himself at the end of 'T2: Judgement Day'. Jordan still blames Sarah Connor for the death of his brother and attempts to capture the Connors on Serena's behalf. John is captured and so attempts to make Jordan see the truth about his brother's death and that his mother's stories of Terminators and Judgement Day are real.

A showdown ensues in which Sarah, John, Dieter and Jordan are faced with three Terminators as well as the Infiltrator. But will Sarah and John Connor manage to avoid Termination for the third time?

'T2: Rising Storm' continues almost directly from where 'Infiltrator' leaves off. While the first book does come to a reasonably neat end it is necessary to read it before attempting 'Rising Storm'. The two books can be taken as two halves of a whole, especially as they are written by the same author. At the beginning of 'Rising Storm', Sarah Connor is in hospital, recovering both physically and mentally from the events in 'T2: Infiltrator'.

Dieter Von Rossbach and John Connor have returned to Paraguay where they begin to recruit support and resources for the upcoming fight against the machines. We see John start to become the military leader that he will be in that post-apocalyptic future the Terminators have been sent from. There is less action here, more character development and gives the reader a chance to see the human side of the Connors.

There is a growing romantic attachment between Sarah and Dieter and an amusing cameo appearance by the psychiatric doctor who attempted to cure Sarah in the second film. This being a Terminator story though, it's not long until the action kicks in. Serena Burns may be gone but she left others to carry on her work. In a hidden government-protected laboratory experiments are being done that will result in an early Skynet gaining intelligence.

Following a second, cloned Infiltrator to this laboratory in Antarctica, Dieter, John and Wendy attempt to sabotage the computer. In typical Terminator style, a final showdown ensues and we learn that sometimes you just can't fight fate, destiny, time-lines or intelligent computers intent on destroying the human race.

The war against the machines is set to continue.
Many people reading this will know that there is currently a T3 film in production. With that said to be set ten years after the second film, these books could easily fill in the gap with regard to storyline and characterisation.

Stirling sticks nicely to the tone and style of the films, creating an action-packed and fast-paced adventure that relates well to the definition of reality as seen in the first two films. The characters are as vivid as they were in celluloid and, especially with John Connor being six years older, works to develop them.

The introduction of a romantic interest for John during the second book, an MIT student called Wendy, also serves to show the changes in John, how he is growing up and is another bridge between the second and third films. Being based around a film, there was obviously a strong visual base from which to draw from and Stirling does so.

He manages to expand on this, taking full advantage of the ways in which books can go into more detail and depth than a film can. The book is fun, enjoyable and full of tension in the same way that the films are.

The original characters are well constructed and Serena Burns and her clones fully realised, giving a Terminator-style chilling terror in a new way with the ease in which the Infiltrators are accepted as human while laughing at their inferiority and irrelevance. True children of Skynet. Introducing Jordan Dyson and later, Wendy, are interesting ideas and provide nice tension in the story.

Dieter Von Rossbach, while fully constructed, is perhaps the only character that appears a little too much of a plot device. He gives the Connors an extremely loyal ally, as they had one in each of the first two films, and his knowledge of the so-called terrorist underworld enables them access to vial information and resources used in the fight against Skynet and Cyberdyne.

The fact that he is the human who the original Terminator was based on is perhaps a little far-fetched sounding, although does provide amusement for the audience in his first meetings with the Connors as well as the obligatory love-interest for Sarah. The interaction between John and Wendy and between Sarah and Wendy is well done and she becomes another well-rounded character who gains the reader's sympathy.

She really is just an ordinary person who happens to come into contact with John Connor, fall in love with him and get brutally drawn into his world.

Overall, 'T2: Infiltrator' and 'T2: Rising Storm' are intelligent, enjoyable and reasonably well-written additions to the Terminator franchise.

Laura Kayne

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