"There was a competitive concept but it involved a lot of stages, a lot of machines, " recalls Jean-Jacques Juillet, the director of scientific programmes at Thales Alenia Space, the company that led the industrial development of Herschel.
An unnamed narrator recalls how he met the mysterious Jacques Austerlitz in Belgium, where they talk about architecture in particular the hubristic grandiosity of public buildings, and the extravagant but useless defensive fortifications once beloved of European rulers.