*Weatherman

Intro: Don't be fooled. This is not Earth as we know it.

After receiving some feedback from someone, I will clarify part of the story. In this world, clouds are not condensed water but breaks in the sky. They are openings to space.

Everything was ready. Randy made sure of that. It was his job and he loved it. Playing with rockets was most definitely the best job in the world. The rocket was in place, the astronauts situated in the cabin. There was nothing to worry about. He'd planned for everything.

Randy paced around the floor, his hands behind his back. Everything he could control was in place. He looked at the sky again and grumbled.

“Of all the days.”

He was brought out of his musings but the radio on his belt.

“Randy? This is Gamma Iota Seven. Do you copy?”

“Copy.”

“We may have to cancel the launch.”

Randy looked back up at the sky, a thunderstorm lingered over the nearby mountains. Those clouds were screwing everything up. Randy quickly punched the talk button.

“We are not canceling anything. There's still time for the weather to cooperate.”

A breeze ruffled his hair and he absently patted it down. The clouds moved towards the launch site. They needed to hurry. Randy moved off the observation deck and jogged down the stairs. The control center was nearly forty miles from the launch site and a jeep was ready to take him. When he finally arrived, the windshield had splotches of rain. The clouds overhead darkened and a flash of light cut through them.

“Randy,” the radio beeped, “Are we good to go?”

As the rain came down in larger drops, Randy fumbled with the radio.”Prepare all systems, we launch in five minutes.”

“Aren't you cutting it close?”

With another look at the darkening sky, Randy replied, “I know what I'm doing. Spread the word, five minutes.”

There was a small base of operations protected by a heat shield. The speakers blared the countdown as Randy jogged towards the small building. At two minutes he was safely inside. His hair and shirt was drenched with the rain. The water was coming down in torrents and a bolt of light flashed across the sky, illuminating the large silver and green rocket. With the headphones snug over his ears, he barked orders into the microphone.

The count down continued.

“Ready the engines.”

No one question his orders. He was the best at what he did. As the countdown neared one the building shook. Randy braced himself and watched as the rocket raised into the air. At first it was slow but it picked up speed. Randy covered his eyes as the flames from the engines shot across the small window. When the blaze dimmed, he monitored everything on the displays. He could see the cloud cover, it started to thin a little but the tip of the rocket broke into space. The cloud cover was enough.

The rest of the rocket followed into the break easily. As the last of the ship vanished into the clouds, Randy sat back relieved. A few minutes later, the hole to space disappeared with the fading storm.

The rain ended and he began calculating the next feasible storm to use to bring the men home. He was a weatherman, and he was the best there was.