The Tunnel Under the World

Pohl, Frederik. "The Tunnel Under the World." Galaxy Jan. 1955. Coll. The Best of Frederik Pohl. Lester del Rey, introd. New York: Ballantine, 1975. (Acknowledgments page lists date for "TUW" as Jan. 1954.) Frequently rpt., including More Penguin Science Fiction. Brian W. Aldiss, ed. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1963. Available also on audio, including a version as "Tunnel Under the World" on X Minus One.[1]

A town destroyed by an explosion is reconstructed in miniature, as are its dead inhabitants. The reconstructed humans/robots are the subjects of controlled experiments in advertising, wherein they continually relive the same day.