One little thing bugged me, though - at the start of the book, there's a Note, explaining that time is simply measured in seconds (kilo, mega, giga-seconds as required) and relating those to "Archaic" earth time. Then, about half the time a period of time is mentioned, it gets explained in the "old style" anyway. It seems a little unneccessary, assuming that the reader didn't pay any attention to the Note and can't make the effort to turn back if confused. Examples :
'... Only been out for a meg, to tell the truth.' (A bit over ten planetary days, a million seconds.) (page 2)
Gigaseconds? Thirty planetary years each. (page 3)
'... where it will live alongside roughly a hundred other volunteers for thirty to a hundred megaseconds.' Roughly one to three old-style years. (page 19)
I wonder if it was an authorial or editorial choice ? (I have the Orbit 2006 edition, in case that helps)