How Long 'Til Black Future Month?

Meroe and his pack move and fight like wolves in the Amorph. Existence in the Amorph is always dangerous as it is “transforming constantly as information pour[s] into it” and is full of predators of every shape and size (128). Meroe and his pack have learned to survive by keeping “lookouts” and fleeing whenever they sense “controversies, scandals” or “crises” on “the wind” (128). The Amorph is a creation of another world called “The Static,” a world full of humans who Meroe both “fear[s]” and respects (128).

Meroe enters the warehouse where his pack is waiting. He feels an “odd tension” among them and asks them to identify what is causing it (127). They reveal that their veteran member, Faster, discovered an inexplicably “perfect” little Latina girl avatar roaming their territory (129). Meroe is somewhat skeptical of the avatar as he knows the Amorph was designed full of “limits” (131). There are only so many ways they can amend the codes of which they are made. If they amend the codes too much, they “simply vanish” (132).

Meroe has spent a lifetime trying to “understand” the humans who created him (132). So far, he has made no headway, but is confident that humans are flawed and he will eventually find a way to break “free” from their control (132).