CRANIUM

CRANIUM (Episode II)

Busaya sighed for the umpteenth time that day, not having a moment of rest after years of sleepless studying was karmic punishment enough. But having to share a tent with Pinya? The universe was really collecting debts from the past. It didn't see her as a friend, nor did it see her as an enemy. In fact, the term "personal karma" seemed more appropriate.

Bua stood there, looking at the sign in front of the green tent made of a material resistant to the sun and rain, which served as a dormitory for the employees involved in the operation. The tent was about two hundred meters away from the accident site, in a separate area, where there were seven other tents arranged in a line. In the tent where Bua was, there was a white sign with black letters that said "Dr. Busaya Methin". However, what really bothered her was the sign just below, which displayed the name "Dr. Pinya Thananon".

Judging by the title "Doctor" in front of Pinya's name, Bua could tell that she had finally graduated. After their last fight, Pinya had disappeared without a trace, and no one knew what had happened.

Like Bua, she was a physical anthropology major. However, her professors often sent her out into the field, especially to archaeological sites and studies of ancient civilizations, which gave her additional experience in historical human civilizations.

Bua let out a resigned sigh, accepting what seemed to be her fate, when she heard the sound of footsteps approaching from behind. Pinya, who was carrying a large backpack, walked past her, deliberately bumping Bua's shoulder. For a brief moment, Bua felt a strong urge to reach out her foot to trip Pinya, but she restrained herself with great effort.

"You studied so hard and still managed not to evolve into a vertebrate animal? You disappeared and came back worse than before, without any manners."

Although she had managed to get her foot out, her mouth was faster than her thoughts. The words made Pinya turn quickly, her eyes shining with anger as she reached out to grab Bua's collar, but Bua quickly slapped her hand away in time.

"It seems that the specialization has made your mouth especially sharper, Dr. Bua."

Pinya said, with a mischievous smile appearing at the corner of her mouth, keeping her eyes fixed on Bua's lips.

"Be careful with that pretty little mouth, Dr. Bua. Who knows, one day some superior member of an inferior creature might hit you when you least expect it."

And with that, Pinya turned around. "I'll sleep in the bed near the entrance. You take the bed inside."

It sounded more like an order than a suggestion, given Pinya's tone, that made Bua irritated at the time, but she didn't answer. She didn't want any more trouble.

Bua crouched down at the entrance of the tent and picked up a handful of loose soil, holding it firmly in her hand. She closed her eyes and said a short prayer, asking for everything to go well. Slowly, she released the soil she was holding in her hands, as a gesture of respect and asking permission from the spirits of the place so that she could work and rest there. This was a ritual she always performed when visiting a new place. However, this time, it seemed that luck was not on her side from the beginning. Pinya appeared again, passing by her.

"I'm going to eat something, Bualoy."

Pinya said, in a sarcastic tone, using the nickname she had given Bua during her college days, without even looking back, and then left the place.

Bua decided not to fight back, it would only waste time and get in a bad mood. She knew Pinya's temperament well: erratic and volatile, as if he suffered from a nervous disorder or had an underdeveloped prefrontal cortex, which affected his ability to process logical reasoning. Pinya rarely listened to what others said. She was stubborn, obstinate and had a habit of constantly complaining.

As soon as Pinya was out of sight, heading towards the temporary cafeteria, Bua went into the tent to organize her sleeping place. Of all the activities, sleeping was undoubtedly her favorite.

Since it was the first day, progress was still minimal. The work became even more difficult when the people in charge decided to pile up parts of the bones that had been found. When Bua saw this for the first time, she almost lost her breath. She had to intervene quickly, asking that the bodies of the victims be left at the crash site, in their original positions.

Each body should be marked with stakes and tape, separating them, so that identification could be carried out more easily and quickly, instead of trying to separate the piled bones piece by piece. Separating the bones on the left side from the right would be a difficult task.

The bones that had already been piled up would need to be organized, categorized, and then it would be necessary to calculate how many bones each passenger should have, separating them by type. After that, the height would be calculated using specialized software and analyzed to determine which victim they belonged to, so that the bodies could be separated and then handed over to the police.

The records of all the passengers were being collected and would be sent as soon as possible. At the same time, the aviation department was searching for the black box to find out what really happened to the plane, which was now nothing more than wreckage. Bua had heard from Pinya, in an exchange of barbs during work that afternoon, that the plane had simply lost contact and disappeared from the radar. It was only when local residents called to report a deafening explosion, and when they arrived at the scene, they found the wreckage of the plane and parts of the bodies scattered throughout the area.

Fortunately, no nearby residents were injured or killed, and there was no significant material damage, which prevented the tragedy from being even greater. Everyone was working intensely to discover the cause of this disaster. But what intrigued Bua the most was why Pinya had appeared at that particular time.

"Forget it."

Pinya was none of her business. It didn't matter when she had appeared, it was best to keep her distance, Bua thought....sighing again.

It was something that had always intrigued her: what could she have done to hurt Doctor Pinya so much, to the point that this rivalry would never end? Professor Nisara had never shown favoritism, at least not that Bua could see. In fact, it seemed that she liked Pinya more, since she always sent her on field missions abroad.

In fact, Pinya had much more experience in the field than Bua, perhaps a hundred or a thousand times more, even though they were the same age, thirty-four. Pinya had already faced adverse terrains and situations, no matter how difficult or extreme they were.

So why did Pinya insist on picking on someone ordinary like Bua? However, she knew that thinking too much about it would only give her a headache without bringing any concrete answers.

Bua decided to take a shower before looking for something for dinner. She didn't want to wait for Pinya to come back, because just thinking about seeing her at dinner time was already taking away her appetite. Besides, after sunset, the air was starting to cool down, with a soft, cold breeze that promised a more comfortable night to sleep. Bua knew that the work there would be long. However, after her first shower of the day, she ended up not going to the mess hall as she had planned.

"One of the officers left a meal for you. I think they noticed that you were taking too long to come to dinner and are closing the kitchen. They also asked to let you know that the meeting has been postponed until tomorrow morning."

Upon hearing this, Bua immediately looked in the direction of the voice, which was coming from someone sitting on the canvas bed. Her eyes then turned to the box of food and the two bottles of water on her bed, next to the badge that she would wear during operations there. Pinya was already starting to unpack her suitcase, while Bua grabbed the food box and went out to look for a quiet place to eat and relax before facing the next day.

Identifying the bodies was not an easy task, especially in a scenario like this, where the remains were scattered, damaged by the explosion and impact, and some burned by the fire. In fact, Bua knew that it would not be possible to send everyone back home, and not all the body parts could be recovered so that the relatives could perform the funeral rites. Some bodies would be so damaged that it would be impossible to identify them. She estimated that the work would take at least two weeks to complete.

She hoped that she could finish sooner, but she knew that was unlikely. However, she would do her best to speed up the process, because, deep down, she also wanted to avoid having to see Pinya every day and this began to affect her mental health. It was as if being in the presence of Dr. Pinya's long-standing karma drained her energy, something that had been happening since her college days.

Almost every day, Bua heard Pinya's name echoing through the hallways, disturbing her peace of mind. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why the teacher sent Pinya so often on missions abroad, something that made her classmates jealous. Even Bua felt this, but she understood that the teacher recognized Pinya's talent and wanted to encourage her.

In the country, there were not many talented anthropologists to do this kind of work. The pay was low, the work was hard, there was no prestige, and the area was practically unknown, always relegated to the background. In fact, not even in the background, in the crime scenes they investigated, the remains left behind were only fragments, incomplete skeletons or isolated bones. Few people were interested in these remains, but for them, these bones were like silent teachers for anthropologists.

They were excited by the opportunity to study ancient human remains or even primates, such as the tailless monkeys (Ape), considered distant relatives of humans in the evolutionary line. In fact, few people had the chance to see these remains firsthand, until Professor Nisara recognized the importance of collecting and preserving these fragments of prehistoric and historic humans. She was the one who pushed for the creation of the Institute for Research in Bioanthropology, a collaboration between the public and private sectors, which received both national and international funding, with Professor Nisara taking on the role of chief director.

At this institute, a large collection of real skeletons and replicas was assembled to serve as study material for students and interested parties. Professor Nisara worked hard to make this institute a reality. Bua began working at the institute as a student and eventually took on responsibilities in collaborative research projects, as well as assisting in teaching as a teaching assistant. And now she was there to represent her teacher. But that didn't mean that the teacher cared more for her than for others.

Bua left the tent, not wanting to argue with anyone at that moment, so she decided to find a quiet place to eat. As the night wore on, the temperature dropped, bringing a sense of calm, almost as if she were on vacation after graduation. However, the wreckage of the plane and the remains of the victims made any sense of serenity disappear. The sound of footsteps nearby made her look up from where she sat, leaning against a seven or eight-meter-tall rubber tree. When she saw who was approaching, she snorted deeply.

Why couldn't fate let her rest for even an hour? The whole day had been a rush of sorting through jumbled bones until her brain was about to spill onto the floor. All she could think about was lying down and letting exhaustion consume her until she fell asleep

"Please... I'm tired. And sleepy too."

Bua said, anticipating what the other person wanted, as she stopped in front of her.

"Let me rest first. If you want to fight, fight alone, I don't even have the strength to talk to you."

"I just came to warn you to be careful."

"Does it have to be now?" Bua replied as she began to eat her simple meal of rice with dried vegetables.

The tiredness of the day had made her taste bland and she barely felt hungry. Arguing with Pinya now would certainly be a losing battle.

"That's all I wanted to say," Pinya said.

"Don't stay out too late."

Those words make Bua frown. As soon as she finished speaking, Pinya, who seemed to be trying to be kind, walked away from the area. Bua watched her little karma walk away, but the darkness made it difficult to see clearly.

She sat there for a few more minutes after she finished eating. This was the first time she had gone out into the field outside the research institute building since she had graduated a few months ago. Although it was an urgent task sent by her teacher, she considered it a good opportunity to see the outside world. The only thing that really bothered her was that she had unexpectedly run into her "leftover."

In truth, Bua wasn't sure who had called Pinya back. She suspected it wasn't the teacher, because otherwise she would have mentioned something earlier. Or maybe the intention was to surprise her. However, a small sense of relief came over her when she thought that Pinya's presence could speed up the work, thanks to her experience and the fact that she was now there by her side.

Whoever had called Pinya back had chosen wisely, because if there was anyone who specialized in anthropology besides the people at the institute - who were all busy with organization and other work - it was unfortunately Pinya. Bua just hoped that her former classmate wouldn't irritate her too much during the process.

She sat there for another ten minutes, seeking peace of mind, before deciding to go back to the tent, since she would have to wake up very early to start work the next day. She hoped that her first night in the field as a physical anthropologist would be a peaceful one.

But perhaps she was sadly mistaken.

NEXT CHAPTER ...

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