Sirs:

I’ve been cloning humans in my basement for quite some time now, but I’ve found that I can’t keep them from becoming morbidly depressed. (I have to kill them after a certain point.) If I were to use one of your happy embryos, would the clone mature into a happy, healthy human being?

Best,

Richard Perle

Dear Dr. Perle:

There is only one happy embryo, and it will not mature beyond the first trimester. Thus, if you were to clone it, which we would not allow anyway, it would remain an embryo. We gather that that isn’t what you’re after. Our apologies.

—Eds.