The first experience of death was romantic, even oneiric - recalled years later it brings to mind Ophelia from Millais’s painting. The second time, the experience of the corpse was quite different. A body in a state of severe decomposition had already been taken over by nature: insects ate the face, larvae nested under the skin. The strong smell of decay could not be compared with any known odour. 

In one of the optional realities, heliocentrism is a lie. The Earth is a flat disc, covered with a dome, with the Sun and the Moon orbiting under it. Instead of gravity, the planet's surface is affected by electromagnetism or, like in a lift, by the illusion of attraction caused by a uniformly accelerated upward movement.

"And it seemed to the young man that he saw a whole nation murdered, floating in a sea of heavenly brightness..." 

Ignacy Krasiński, The Un-divine Comedy