Nova's Human Colony was a group of wild humans that lived in the jungles of Soror.
History
The colony lived on the outskirts of an ape city within the confines of the jungles of Soror. It was composed of an encampment where the shelters were nest-like constructions made of interwoven branches that were strewn on the ground or wedged in the forks of low trees.
The colony seemed to be led by the father of Nova. When Nova brought word of three strange men in the jungles, Nova's father and the several tribe members followed her to the place where she encountered them.
Though initially interaction with the humans from Earth were peaceful, when Ulysse tried to engage them in human behavior, it disturbed the colony. When the three wore clothes, it enraged the wild men and women, provoking them to attack and strip the explorers bare. Once satisfied with this state, Nova's people proceed to destroy the launch which the explorers came in. Having rid of all objects of civilization they dragged the men back to the colony.
At the colony the astronauts were released and the tribe went back to playing having lost interest in the strangers. Only Nova continued to take an interest in them and followed them from a distance pretending to look away when they turned their attention to her. The explorers having found themselves stranded and with no options left decided to make the best of the situation. Searching for food they came across a family devouring a deer but which they were not inclined to share. Nova then proceeded to help the men, dropping bananas from a nearby tree for them to eat. Later as night fell the Earth men built nests to sleep for the night with the help of Nova. After the work was done the girl invited herself into Ulysse's nest.
When morning rose, the two accidental nestmates attempted to communicate but they were interrupted by a horrible din from deep in the jungle. Hearing the noise, the tribe was flushed from their nests by the noise which turned out to be from gorilla beaters. The tribe was driven to an area where the hunters laid in wait for the prey. Taking their shots, the gorillas gunned down any man or woman that attempted to cross the clearing. Arthur bolted through the clearing only to enter the aim of an barrel of a gun was killed. However his death allowed Ulysse to escape and avoid death as the ape was busy reloading. The journalist however only evaded death to be captured in a net. Majority of the tribe were slaughtered during the gorilla hunting drive while a number of men and women were captured, having become ensnared in nets set up by the apes.
The corpses from the drive were collected as well as the game that survived and taken to a hunting lodge. There the hunters were greeted by their female companions who waited to see the catch they brought. As the bodies from the hunt were laid on their backs, side by side. All the while the she-apes who admired the kills, busied themselves to make the game attractive and more presentable. The she-apes stretched the arms down along the sides, opening the palms of the bodies facing upward. The limbs and joints were straighten and contractions to the necks were reduced to give the bodies a less corpse-like appearance. After smoothing down the manes of the women, the she-apes proceeded to cut locks from the best specimens to decorate their hats.
At least three rows of bodies were displayed as trophies, the middle row was arranged to contain the bodies of women to present their chests in a decorative fashion. The exhibition complete the apes photographed their kill and documented the moment. The session lasted more than a quarter of an hour with the gorillas photographing themselves individually, posing or placing a foot on a victim. The she-apes in turn were also photographed before the slaughter. One ape used the corpse of Arthur Levain as a cushion while her photo was taken much to the grief and horror of Ulysse.
The remaining survivors were fed through food basins and largely forgotten. A few guards that were left to watch the captives entertained themselves by throwing bits of fruit into the cages and watching the chaos as the men and women fought over the scraps.
After the feeding was over, the apes began to transfer the captives from one cage to another. One cage contained several handsome men and women such as Nova and Ulysse. They were to be taken to be sold to the Institute for Advanced Biological Study while the others such as Professor Antelle were sold to the simian city zoo.
Known Colony Inhabitants
| Human | Status | Position/Title | Role in Novel |
Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nova's Father | Unknown | Leader of the Human Colony |
||
| Nova | Alive | Daughter of the Pack Leader |
||
| Ulysse Mérou | Alive | Tribe Mate | Unwillingly joined the tribe. | |
| Decease | Tribemate | Unwillingly joined the tribe. | ||
| Professor Antelle | Alive | Tribe Mate | Unwillingly joined the tribe. |
Notes
- In the movie, the astronauts were captured with primitive humans whilst they were raiding a field of crops near Ape City.