My own first footstep on another planet was almost embarrassing, I was used to the 85% gravity of the Thuranin star carrier, and then zero gee again, and Camp Alpha's gravity was 107% of Earth normal. The unfamiliar weight caused me stumble down the ramp. Lt. Gonzalez hadn’t been joking about the heat, when we got off the dropship, I was hit by a furnace-like blast of heat. And humid, too, none of that bullshit about it feeling cooler because it’s a dry heat. And bright, I had to shade my eyes and squint to make it the hundred meters to where the transport vehicles were parked. Everything smelled burnt, like the aftermath of a fire. The oxygen content of the atmosphere was supposed to be only a bit lower than Earth normal, it sure felt like my lungs were sucking air and not getting a whole lot of benefit. Maybe the landing site was at high altitude. I had almost reached a transport truck, and was waiting in line to board, when a woman behind me swayed, and began to slump to the dusty ground. My own head was swimming from the sudden heat, like a head rush when you stand up too suddenly at the beach. She protested and tried to push me away, but it was clear her knees were wobbling. “Listen,” I checked the name above her left pocket, “hey, Miller, we are Army Strong.” I repeated a US Army recruiting slogan, “We don’t let each other down, not in combat, and sure not in this stinking heat, you got that?”

She nodded angrily, and leaned on me breathing heavily, until she could stand up again. I could tell that needing assistance, even briefly, was killing her pride. “Thanks, uh,” she glanced at my name tag, “Bishop. God damn it’s hot here. I’m from Seattle.”

"Ha! Northern Maine here. You don't know what cold is. " She let me hold onto her shoulders to steady her a few seconds, until her legs stopped shaking. Ten feet away, a guy's knees buckled suddenly, and he face planted in the dirt, another victim of the sudden heat. Miller recovered and climbed stiffly into the back of the truck by herself. Once the truck was loaded, we drove off to a tent city that was being built atop a bluff. I looked around, trying to savor my first moments on an alien world. There wasn't much to savor. It was dry, and dusty, and the air still smelled burnt, so the smell wasn't from the dropship's engine exhaust. Low vegetation clustered around rocks, it appeared to be a type of pulpy, fleshy lichen. I guessed the plant stored its own water supply, like a cactus. Bouncing around in the back of the truck, we looked at each other and grimaced knowingly. Camp Alpha was our first alien planet. And it sucked.