Quinn started to speak but Howie interrupted him. "I know, Quinn. We have to set the test near the present to verify. I've been unfair asking everyone to take it on faith. This is what I'll do; I'll let you take me where I don't want to go."
"Now I'm the one who's scared," Betsy said.
Howie relaxed a little. "No need to be. This is what I want you to do tomorrow morning."
Martha interrupted. "Tell me you won't spy on our past!"
"It won't be like that and I promise after this is over, I'll never involve any of us personally in any future sessions."
Howie directed the four of us to go someplace nearby, inside or outside, and not divulge the location. Once there, each of us should go off alone for a few minutes and say or do something totally unique and not inform the others. We would perform this chore one after the other for a total of perhaps fifteen minutes. A few hours later, Quinn would set the power source to the time and location, not informing Howie.
Betsy was incredulous. "Can you be that precise?" she asked Quinn.
"Yes, that soon after an event. We still have more tests we could run but up to twenty four to forty eight hours; I'm pretty close on both time and location. After that, it diminishes roughly in proportion to the delay."
Howie left for his apartment shortly after we'd agreed to conduct his proposed test. In spite of the lateness of the hour, the rest of us were far too hyper for sleep.
"Wow," was all I could muster. I'm sure Betsy felt the same. "Has it been this tense the entire time?"
Martha smiled. "At first it was still a game. Howie was as excited as us once we could transport him more precisely. We had more nonevents like uninhabited places than success but some were spectacular."
"God," Quinn said. "He dined with Abraham Lincoln!"
"You're kidding!" Betsy exclaimed.
"He dreamt what his mind conjured up. Believe me," Quinn answered. "Never the less, it was bizarre."
Martha frowned. "Quinn put him in Washington, in the summer of 1864. It's a big city and a long time ago but he saw the White House and said he watched Lincoln eat with two men."
"That's incredible," I said.
Martha continued. "Then he started feeling guilty, as if he was doing something wrong. He refused to do stuff like that. I tried to get him to visit Woodstock but he just got pissed."
"And not for the first time! See what I mean?" Quinn said. "He wouldn't let us do any sort of test like what he just proposed until you guys arrived. He insisted I tell him where I was setting my units so he always knew approximately where he was going. I mentioned a brain scan; you'd think I'd suggested a lobotomy. All I'm trying to do is get a handle on why his brain is doing this to him. These visions are totally verifiable in current time. No need to play around with stupid 1930 history."