by obtaining official approval i would have absolved myself of any responsibility and probably would not be in the position i am in at the moment , but in the time that i would have required to locate the great overseer and obtain a freshly stamped document from his secretary , then return with it in hand to the office and submit it to the guard on duty prior to connecting the extraordinary activity device to the faculty of my free will , the bicyclist would have long disappeared from the site , and my attempt to intervene would have ingloriously failed .