"So, Iron Man."
"You're also an Undivided Chaos daemon from the Warp, aren't you?"
Guilliman slowed his pace, his tone sounding both probing and accusatory.
Bik had no desire to acknowledge Guilliman. He had neither the motive nor the desire to state facts or confess anything to a third party.
When the people of the Tyran Sector dealt with Logistics Machines, they liked to ask them questions. The Logistics Machines would often give honest answers and sound advice, so they had developed a habit of asking them whenever they encountered something they found difficult to resolve.
That behavior, and the expectation of receiving answers, had created ripples and influence in the Warp. Bik's candor came from that.
In Bik's eyes, Guilliman was merely a third party—an Imperial outside both the Tyran Sector and the Warp entities. He would not explain anything to him.
Yet that silence lasted only until Qin Mo looked at Bik. That gaze, so eager for answers, made Bik realize that he ought to explain himself to his indirect creator.
"You may put it that way, because the term 'daemon' was created to summarize beings like me."
Bik spoke slowly.
"But you need not worry that I will suddenly start killing people, or pledge myself to some Chaos God. The motives and impulses behind everything I do are not because I am good or evil, but because I should do it."
"Like that giant whale that travels through the Warp. It carries other creatures back and forth not because it is good or evil, but because that is what it should do, because it was born from the desire of living beings in the Real Universe to reach the end of their journeys quickly and safely."
"Warp entities are constrained by the reasons for their birth."
"If