I'll be damned! Found an occupied escape pod floating near the planet... grabbed it as soon as I got close. Further investigation uncovered there was something in there, but to my surprise, it wasn't human... but an animal. A small black cat with white patches... had a collar with "Dr. Whiskers" written on it (had to cut the collar, the poor animal was stuck on a handle...). Looks to be in good health, well-fed, a little sleepy... seems it didn't float in space for long.
I immediately started conducting some experiments... figured it may lead me to Dr. Murphy or the settlement, if there is any. Below is the photograph of the experiment.
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I placed a PDA (with the unidentified binary code on the screen) in front of "Dr. Whiskers"... it approached carefully and started investigating the unfamiliar object.. and then, all of a sudden, the subject started to shake vigorously... hissing at and scratching the PDA, seemed like it remembered... no, recognized something... had the strangest look in its eyes... it fell in a deep state of shock ... I sedated the poor animal with a mild sedative, gave it food and water and let it rest for some time.
Final note: The results are inconclusive... further testing required...