Eventually, Earth itself was threatened by solar flares and humanity left the planet in a vast starship later nicknamed the Ark, taking along their Monoid servants. At some point during the many generations worth of time that the Ark took to reach its intended destination, the planet Refusis II; the Monoid slaves rebelled against their masters, enslaving humanity in turn and developing a device which allowed them to communicate verbally. After arriving on the planet, conflict erupted within the Monoids themselves, in addition to that which already existed between them and the Humans. The native Refusians, a previously unknown race of incorporeal, telekinetic pacifists, allowed the Humans and Monoids to inhabit their planet on the condition that the war was to be stopped and both species sh