QUATERMASS AND THE PIT, in a shell: in 1958, holes in London were still being repaired after the Blitz. An excavation at Hobbs Lane digs up very old human bones. Their type and age is anomalous. Digging continues, until a small spacecraft is revealed. Hobbs Lane used to be Hob’s Lane, Hob being an old term for the devil. The area is haunted by psychic pressure from the vessel. The vessel is from Mars, and contained genetically altered early humans. Martian culture imposed purity pogroms. By the end of the story, humans without altered genes are being attacked by those who inherited them.