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A small search party goes to investigate a seemingly abandoned/derelict alien ship floating around in space; perhaps on autopilot. The crew explores the ship but can't find anyone piloting it. The ship is pretty advanced.

The only thing that stands out in my memory was a room full of alien creatures on display within individual statis fields. One of the crew men stumbles too close to one and he gets sucked into the field with a sabertooth cat-like creature.

Later in the story, the fields are deactivated when power is lost and the creatures are all freed, resulting in the immediate death of the crew member who had previously been caught in the field, as he got ripped apart. This entire scene was described so vividly that it has stayed in my mind for like 30 years.

The creatures weren't completely frozen in time; it was just incredibly slow inside the field so that it would take years for the creature to move enough that it could reach the crew member - and then years to kill him. Pretty grim.

I don't remember what happened at the end of the book and it could possibly be part of a series, not sure. I read it around the same time as the Rama books and I'm thinking that it was printed in the 70s or 80s. Appreciate any tips!

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    There's some similarities to George R. R. Martins episodic novel "Tuf Voyaging": The small crew boarding an abandoned genetic engineering warship, the main deck full of creatures in stasis, and the release of those creatures. No smilodon in the mix, but there are small, poisonous kitten-creatures aboard. In a later episode, off the ship, there's a large alien cat.
    – Stanley Webb
    Commented Jan 10 at 19:26
  • @StanleyWebb - Specifically, "The Plague Star", the first short story in the book. The book is actually a short story connection, as each story was written independently.
    – WhatRoughBeast
    Commented Jan 11 at 17:29
  • Awesome, thanks for sharing that one. I'll see if I can snag a copy. I don't remember them going off ship but possibly!
    – Lovely Lady Bee
    Commented Jan 12 at 19:59

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It may be Broken Angels (2003) by Richard Morgan.

This is the second book of the Takeshi Kovacs series (the first being Altered Carbon).

Part of the Wikipedia plot summary:

The party goes through the portal and finds an inactive Martian starship, along with the bodies of Tanya's original archaeologue team. Mysteriously, it appears that the original team chose to die in space rather than inside the breathable air of the spaceship. Suspecting that Schneider is the saboteur, Kovacs confronts him. Schneider flees in the shuttle they arrived in, triggering a booby trap set by Kovacs and blowing the shuttle up.

During their exploration, the Martian starship is attacked by an unknown starship, which causes its automated defense systems to come online. During the attack the party begins to experience visions and emotions from the dead Martians, bringing them to the brink of insanity. Hand realises the danger and orders Kovacs to shoot the others with a stunning weapon to render them unconscious.

After the battle is over, Isaac Carrera and a Wedge unit arrive and imprison the remaining members of the squad."

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