useing php variables in HTML forms

I need to set variables in a php script ran at loading of a page. (The script gets data from an ODBC database and places it in vars). From there I need to make these variables visible in the form code that is to follow(as default values for the text boxes). I dont really want to set cookies because these would show up on a users machine and would remain even when the 'administrator' is no longer at that machine. anyone have any ideas how I could set the variable so that it can be gotten from HTML when set in a php script? TIA