Adam Stephanides told the story, just in time, too, since I would have done it in another hour or two.
The only thing I would add is that the story itself was published in Damon Knight's ORBIT 2 (1967). And that Gene Wolfe had said something to Damon Knight along the lines of how that experience (being edited/mentored/published in such company/etc.) had made him a writer (he had a few stories published already); and Damon Knight scoffed and said something like, "I didn't grow you from a bean."
Onto other topics: I mentioned before the notion of using "cyclers" between Earth and Mars, and at that time I wrote that they were in Hohmann orbits. If I said "like Hohmann orbits" that would be closer.
In any event, the notion started with a paper by Buzz Aldrin regarding "Mars Transit System." The cyclers (big habitats) drift in continuous, stable orbits that cross both Earth's and Mars' orbits: the short leg is 5 months and the long leg is 10 to 21 months.
If I understand it correctly, the short leg is the trip from Earth to Mars, and it would take at least 5 months (I've seen a figure of 6 to 8 months). The long leg is the trip from Mars to Earth, and it would basically take a year or two, depending.
(To reduce these travel times, the idea is to use multiple cyclers. This creates a sort of "conveyor belt" between Earth and Mars.)
=mantis=
Sirius Fiction
booklets on Gene Wolfe, John Crowley
A PEACE timeline online NOW! Come see!
http://www.siriusfiction.com/