The Admiral closed the door behind him. "Well, Dr. Bosquet --"
"Please," said the Green Man, "Most people call me Boukay."
"Well, whatever your name is, you have already caused a stir among my crew. Some of them think you are a plant (the other sort), some of them think you should be nurtured and pruned. What is it you want, and what is my ship supposed to be doing for you."
Boukay smiled his verdant smile, and pulled out a battered notebook. "The truth is, Admiral, I am looking for some songs."
"What?"
"Old earth songs. I am a songcatcher. The Federation has agreed to take me to the outskirts of the Crab Nebula, where some of the Earthling remnant are supposed to be. What chance might I have of getting another cup of tea?"
"About as good a chance as getting to the Crab Nebula!!!!!!!!!! Are you serious?? I am supposed to hand this billion Fedbuck fighting starship over so you can go hunting for a bunch of tunes?" The Admiral began to go red in the face, which acted as an interesting contrast to Boukay's own viridian.
"Not a bunch of tunes, Admiral. Old earth songs." He sighed. "Let me remind you, Admiral, of the situation. As I was saying before you left, the remnants of the Earth were handed over in the late 21st century, and the remaining inhabitants enslaved or killed. The remnant that escaped, as far as we can tell, were members of a franchise on Mars that went over to the AOLT&T cosmorporation before the Great Iconowar that destroyed the planet completely. In the 5 centuries that have passed since then, those few Earthling survivors emigrated throughout the emerging cosmos.
"Yes," said the Admiral impatiently, "I know all that. I am Terran myself, and proud of it."
"Yes, but of course you aren't really pure Earthling. Just because you have Terran blood, and call yourself a Terran, doesn't mean that you have more than a trivial connection to that past. There are very few reasonably coherent Earthling communities left. Everything else,as you know, was wiped off the Earth hard drive by accident (though this is still controversial) the last day of 2099. So when your Terran lobbyists finally got guilty and nostalgic and went through your midmillenium crisis, you decided to lobby for some study of ancient Earthling culture. It is now official policy: I have a grant from Federation Council to hunt out that remnant. You are obliged to take me there.
The Admiral fumed. "I am obliged??"
"Please Admiral, spare the theatrics. You saw all the documentation. My Father, the Chair of the Federation Council, signed it himself."
The Admiral knew it all. The part about the Father too. He sat down.
"Look Admiral, you might enjoy it. For instance, do you know any old Earth songs?"
The Admiral shook his head, and then sheepishly said. "Well, yes, I suppose I do. My mother used to sing us -- ridiculous really."
Boukay smiled. "Then do you know "Tingle, tingle?"
The Admiral said, "Well, of course, everyone knows "Tingle, Tingle". It is ancient."
"Alright, Admiral. No one is listening. Sing it for me."
The Admiral tugged down on his uniform, and then began to sing in a somewhat childishly gruff voice:

"Tingle, tingle, little star
No one wonders what you are.
Up above Pleiades-Psi,
Disney is the thing to buy,
Tingle, tingle, little star
No one wonders what you are."

He smiled. "Haven't sung that since I was 6 or so."
Boukay said: "I have reason to believe that that is a variation, or at least some part of it is a variation on an older original. Brewster Flat in 2478 recorded an Earthling variant which begins quite differently, like this:

"Tinkle, tinkle, lovely star,
How I wonder what you are,"

and then the rest is the same. Interesting, hmm?"

The Admiral got up. "Look, Dr. Bosquet. I understand that I have to do this. I intend to file a protest. But I refuse to tell my crew that that is why we are cruising towards the Crab Nebula. I intend to tell them that we are engaged in a war to the death with the Great Threat to the Federation."
"Oh," said Boukay, "We are going to be doing that too, of course. There is much you have to learn, Admiral. Sit back down...About that tea?"