Voyage in Night Hardcover – January 1, 1984 by C. J. Cherryh 
 
Two voyages, two ships. One had been en route for over a hundred thousand years, was the size of an asteroid, its launch site beyond the trace of any man-made telescope, and its crew an enigma. The other ship had been out of Endeavor Station just a few months, was a tiny ore-prospector with a crew of three: Rafe, Paul, and Paul's wife Jillan. The two ships were on a collision course which neither could avoid in time. The three humans were the first of their species the masters of the monster had encountered, and now two were already dead and one was dying. But that could be remedied -- and was, multifold.
 
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