"Haha...well, they do have a throttle...along with gyro-repulsive drives. So for the most part, they are very stable at low speeds." Marina replied, not certain if Mila was just joking around or truly reserved about getting on a bike.
Marina had never given flying or speeding ever any thought. Being in accelerated motion, whether flying in a ship or in a land speeder, it had come natural to her. But she did understand that not everyone took to flying as she did. Same as many didn't take to understanding or flowing with what was known as the force. marina herself knew for it to exist, but had no experience in connecting to it. It weren't something she pursued or wished for that matter.
"Come..." Marina closed the conduit chase. "...they are down below in the hold.
You'll see how easy they are to ride." She motioned for Mila to follow her.
"I'll give you some easy lessons."
Passing her droid on the way to the hold, she gave it instruction in prioritizing in getting the ship's comp on line and assessing what parts and components were needed in doing so. She and Mila were going to see if they could salvage some components from her ship. Doing so would be more efficient than traying to locate raw materials for the moleculizer to break down and refine for printer operation. Her ship's state of the art printer could produce just about anything with any given elements and compounds.
The bikes were replicants of classical ones, once popular on many systems.
Unclasping the magnetic locks, the bikes instantly came on line, rising to hover just a few centimeters off the deck floor.
"Here, just grab hold of the frame or handle bar and guide it out. it's in stand-hover mode and you could guide it out and down the ramp....see." Marina opted not to get on it while inside the hold as the bike then would switch from stand-by to drive mode. Guiding the bikes in the manner marina was demonstrating was fail-safe. Even if the throttle were engaged, as long as one weren't on the bike, it would just respond to glide.
Once they got the bikes down the ramp, Marina got on one and the bike rose up a few more centimeters, with it's drives sounding off at a higher pitch.
"It responds to both body motion and throttle. Throttle controls the speed and there are two means of doing so. One is foot activated and the other is by hand...here. One overrides the other. It's your choice which you prefer. I suggest trying the pedal first, like this..." Sure enough with little foot pressure the bike moved forward a few meters.
"You panic or wish to let off, simply lift off the pedal.
To turn, or to swing the bike left or right in a circle, just lean left or right, giving it some throttle at the same time. The more you lean, the tighter the circle. Up and down is controlled by the other foot pedal or you can leave the control on auto terrain." Again demonstrating on her bike, before bringing it back next to the one Mila were to try.
So she went over the controls and various optional means of operation which had several. There was no 'one way' of operation but several modes, with the easiest being shown and demonstrated.
"Come on...come on...." She pat the seat on the one for Mila.
"Hop on it and get the feel for it. as long as you don't put the hammer down...that is give it full throttle, you shouldn't feel overwhelmed.
As a matter of fact-" Marina then engaged a throttle lock..one normally set of beginners.
"There... I set it so that you shouldn't exceed 30k an hour.
So go ahead now, and give it a try. See if you can ride it around the clearing and back first. Remember, you panic or forget...let off on the throttle. The bike will come to a slow hover."
