Heavy Time by C J Cherryh

Devil to the Belt is an omnibus release from 2000 containing two novels by science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh, Heavy Time (1991), and Hellburner (1992). The books are set in Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe and are prequels to her Hugo Award-winning 1981 novel Downbelow Station. Both of the included works were nominated for the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in their respective years of eligibility.

Asteroid miners Bird and Ben encounter an adrift ship in an asteroid belt that's inhabited by a half-crazy spacer named Dekker. When they tow the ship, they find their livelihoods--and their lives--in deadly danger. "Proves that high-tech science fiction need not sacrifice literary values".--Publishers Weekly.