"Why didn't you send him home or have him guarded over carefully?"
"We tried, kept him guarded closely. Aside from putting him in an air-tight case, we did about everything. When the accident occurred—well, he and his guards went to watch the first time that the thing could be fooled.
"It happened, all right," said Simpkins. "First, another man caught a mislink on his shoulder, which laid him out slightly. That, we thought, was it! And if it was, the time-factor was all screwed up. But we all ran forward to measure, and as we did, our man got clipped with another. The first accident had gone unnoticed by the operator."
"How can you tell that such an accident will happen?" asked Peter. "Seems to me that a hundred tons of crane might not notice a few pounds of human in its way."
"We erect guard-wires that register. That is for one reason only. We use it to summon the medicos and the hospital ambulance, and prepare for action. That's about all we can do."
"I wonder if you could take a picture of such?" suggested Peter.
"Huh?"
"Take a picture with a camera controlled by the operator—you know, temporal treat the camera, film, and all but the range finder and the shutter release."
"Look, fellow, that would take a picture of the accident as it happens, all right. It's also done. Makes excellent records. But as for pre-accident stuff, know what happens?"
"No, of course not."