"Where to begin," Martha said, showing nerves as well. "First off, Howie discovered he can speak aloud while he's having his visions. Some of the words are slurred but understandable. We record every detail he sees eliminating his need to remember license plate and such." We nodded our approval and awaited more revelations. We weren't disappointed as Martha continued.
"It's been tough on Howie. Sometimes he has trouble sleeping and it takes very little noise to wake him. Any sound will do it. He's never out more than ten to twenty minutes at a time and three or four sessions make a heavy day."
"So there's no concern these visions may stop completely?" I asked.
"No, nor does Quinn have any idea how or why they are occurring in the first place." Then Martha dropped the bombshell. "Quinn knows how to control the time and the location of the visualizations." We sat there, mouths agape.
"Sort of," Quinn interjected.
Martha quickly explained, leaving Quinn's short fuse unlit. "He knows what settings control each but it's far from exact. There is one set of numbers he changes for the time and he can set the location somehow by longitude and latitude. We're had poor Howie in thirty-two sessions since you're been here so Quinn's developed cross references. It's been unbelievable what Howie's experienced."
While the pronouncement was sensational, Howie's reaction told a very different story. His face was a mask of fright. I started to question him, but thought better of it, letting Martha continue.
"As much progress as we've made, we still haven't proved his visions represent real happenings." She looked at her husband, the most closed minded among us, when she spoke. "Howie wanted to wait until we were all together." She turned to him.
He bit his lip and spoke. "I'm scared to death," he said hesitantly. "There; I admit it. I need all of you. This business is so incredible it's wrecking me."
"Tell us what you want us to do," Betsy said.
Instead of answering, he turned to Quinn. "Tell them what you can do. Just don't tell us how you do it."
Quinn looked first at his wife and then stood up. "As Martha said, I'm able to dial in settings that affect time and a location. I've tried to calculate the effect of each setting and I have the different adjustments down pretty well. The problem is the further in the past I try to go, the less accuracy I can attain. I'm right on the money, both time and location, for very recent settings."
"Anywhere, in the short term?" I asked. Quinn nodded.