T2

Plot overview

Six years after Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Sarah Connor and her teenage son John live in Paraguay under the aliases John and Suzanne Krieger. Convinced they permanently stopped Skynet by destroying Cyberdyne Systems, they run a successful trucking firm called Krieger Trucking and also work as skilled smugglers. Sarah handles the company while John attends military school, where he excels, picking up combat skills, weapons training, and hacking know-how.

A new neighbor, Dieter von Rossbach, a former Austrian counterterrorism operative who will later serve as the template for the T-800, becomes intrigued by the Connors. After Sarah explains the future war, a fresh T-800 attacks them, created by a newer Terminator model, the i-950 Infiltrator Serena Burns. FBI agent Jordan Dyson, brother of the late Miles Dyson, wants to arrest the Connors for his sibling's death and the destruction of Cyberdyne. However, after witnessing the Terminators himself, he believes their story and joins them to destroy Cyberdyne's latest facility and the remaining machines.

Sarah is gravely injured by Serena but destroys her, and Dyson ensures Sarah recovers fully. John and Dieter return to Paraguay. Dyson then learns of a Cyberdyne backup facility in Montana and alerts the Connors.

I-950

The I series Terminators differ from the T series because they are not built in a factory. Skynet decided that the most effective way to create a human-like infiltrator was to begin with a living human and then add machine upgrades. An I-950 starts life as an infant, with a neural net processor attached to its brain that connects it to Skynet. To build its physical endurance, it is encouraged to crawl using holographic toys until it collapses from exhaustion.

After four years, it is given an injection that rapidly ages it to adulthood, completing its training. To help it pass as human, the I-950 can experience emotions, though a cybernetic implant restricts their range. Because it is far more organic than mechanical, dogs do not react to it, allowing it to remain hidden inside a resistance base for very long periods. Each I-950 carries a Model 101 CPU and power cells.

When the living tissue dies, the CPU can briefly take over the body. I-950s can reproduce only with other I-950s, not with humans. If a female I-950 believes a pregnancy would interfere with her mission, she can fertilize her eggs in vitro and have them implanted in a human surrogate. They are also capable of cloning themselves.

Reception

Publishers Weekly reviewed T2: Infiltrator, stating the author gets the Terminator universe details right and that the story makes sense in showing how Skynet would try again to kill John Connor. Charles de Lint of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction recommended the novel, saying everything needed for a strong sequel is present. Lars Johansen of Parsec magazine also recommended it, noting that Stirling met the challenge of writing a novel based on a movie. SF Crowsnest reviewer Laura Kayne enjoyed T2: The Future War and praised how the story ties in with the first two Terminator films.