Riddick knew how to lay low. When he was an elite Company Ranger assigned to Sigma Galaxy, he had learned to remain perfectly still to stay alive. The native life-form on Sigma 3, a large slimy creature his fellow Rangers called Spitfire, had motion sensors instead of eyes. They liked to hunt the humans who invaded their habitat with heavy drills and ravenous greed… The human drones so eager to consume Sigma 3’s mineral resources and move on — like a pestilence.
	At first the Spitfires had it all their way. If one man or thirty were working a tunnel anywhere near a Spitfire’s nest, they’d be dead meat. Barbecued meat, Riddick noted without humor. The huge, fanged reptile would spray victims with a particularly nasty acid that seared flesh from bone on contact. The only way to avoid being barbecued alive was to remain totally still, to defeat their motion sensors.
	Riddick’s rookie job as a Company Ranger was what they called a sweeper. He and two other would clear Spitfires from tunnels that were about to be mined. Their MO was simply to make some noise and scuffle around so as to attract the alien predator. They would throw dice to see who would be the decoy.
	While the loser shuffled around the tunnel the other two found shelter and waited. The decoy had to keep his position out in the open until a Spitfire crawled into view, fangs extended to spew its acid venom. Then the decoy remained rock quiet.
	If a Spitfire couldn’t locate an intruder after a minute its fangs would retract. At that moment it was helpless. The hidden sweepers would “dust” the creature with poison gas that killed it instantly.
	More than once Riddick had been badly burned by stray drops of venom.
-Pitch Black (pages 26-27)