In the opening scene on the Maru, Beka is eating a slice of dragon fruit (pitaya cactus). In 2003 this fruit was obscure enough in Canada to pass for a futuristic alien food.
After the retaking of the Maru, Trance looks upon her future-fate bonsai tree and we see a green coruscation pass across it. That special effect was almost certainly made by filming fine gauge steel wool burning, tinting the image, and layering it over the tree. That trick with burning steel wool is a classic, having been around since the 60s.
The story Trance tells Tyr is a tweaking of the fable "Appointment at Samsarra". Except in the original version it is Death instead of Fate that the man sees.