"For the rest, boy, I asked you to come because I have a question to ask you..." The captain commented.

Ricardo, seeing that the captain finally allowed him to be part of the conversation, asked happily: "Of course, captain! What do you need to know?"

"As I had told you when you entered the cabin: stress levels are increasing due to the accumulated fatigue of the trip, so I would like to know if you noticed any type of abnormal behavior in the crew these days"

"Not that I remember, captain..." Ricardo affirmed, somewhat happy that the captain had enough confidence in him to ask him these kinds of questions.

Wiliam, seeing that the boy didn't know anything, was relieved. It would be bad enough, if the lower level of this ship had noticed the abnormal situation of these two weeks.

"... But..." Ricardo said, to the captain's annoyance.

"The boys in the cabins are a little worried about the sick. We haven't seen the boys for a week and many fear that they are worse than Ron tells us"

"It's okay, it's normal for them to feel worried about their companions" The captain commented cautiously, he didn't want to leak what the real problem was, it was almost time to reach port, and it's not worth creating unnecessarily panic.

But... As captain, it was also his responsibility to try to find information and if he had brought up the subject with a cabin boy, it was because he was really lost with this series of incidents... Or he was looking for something else.

"What I meant, is if you noticed someone acting out of the ordinary, as if they were in some kind of trance..." The captain explained in detail slowly.

Ricardo stayed silent thinking, trying to be as useful as possible with the captain, ultimately, the person in front of him would define whether the next trip was still a cabin boy or not.

Noticing Ricardo's silence, Wiliam continued explaining the known symptoms at the moment, so the cabin boy will be able to find a possible suspect.

"For example, what I'm interested in knowing, is if any of the sailors you met on this trip no longer seem to be the same person you met at the beginning, as if something inside that person had changed..." Wiliam asked, looking at the eyes of the young boy with seriousness.

"I think I know someone who fulfills that…" Ricardo said, very hesitant to speak or not speak.

Noticing the cabin boy's long pause, Wiliam insisted: "Who? ... The subject is important, Ricardo, if you help me with this matter, I promise that I will help you in the future when we touch port"

Ricardo understood the hint of the captain, a name for a position, without a doubt it would be tempting for most people, but Ricardo was not one of those who easily betrayed his friends, but...

'A Montes can't keep cleaning up the vomit of a bunch of drunks' The thought flew through Ricardo's head.

And without hesitation, he said the name that best fit the definition of the captain: