Astounding Science Fiction, October 1947

Home of the Gods, a novelette by A. E. van Vogt, concerns an expedition led by Lord Clane Linn to explore a mysterious pit on Venus. Three spaceships transport six hundred personnel, including soldiers and enslaved workers, to investigate ruins from an ancient civilization destroyed by atomic warfare. After establishing base camp, Clane surveys the pit's depths using maps and reconnaissance, identifying entry routes and atomic-radiation hotspots detected by the ship's instruments. With one hundred men and supplies, he lands at the pit floor and discovers a concrete structure—remnant of an underground bunker. Upon opening its sealed metal door, Clane finds the interior illuminated by opaque-coated ceiling bulbs, technology suggesting a science far advanced beyond the culture's known knowledge. The story explores the theme that political structures precede scientific understanding in cultural development.