The galaxy has several different calendars in use, and time is largely unregulated. Planetary calendars are most commonly used for most purposes: these are self-evident, with the motion of a given planet providing the time. Most species try to keep the raw numbers of time the same even when the actual lengths of time are different, a practice the humans have inherited: therefore, on Persephone, a day is twenty-four hours long, even though the actual day is three percent shorter than Earth's day. A year is kept pegged at 365 Earth days, which means that the seasons on Persephone do not occur at any fixed time of year. Earth Standard Time, as it is known, is pegged at the time of Greenwich, England, the traditional centre of human chronology for hundreds of years.

There is also 'galactic time', an initiative being pressed by the Twis'rin. Galactic time is pegged to the home of the Twis'rin on the planet Matul'it in the Periodice system. Other species resist giving their time in Twis'rin terms, but in galactic business Twis'rin time has become the de facto standard.

The beginning year of From the Cradle is 2748 on the Earth calendar, or 5311 on the Twis'rin galactic calendar. For more information on some of the events in the history of the galaxy, see NEWS HISTORY.