  We use the accretion model to explain the early exit of Eta Carinae from its
2009 X-ray minimum. In the accretion model the secondary star accretes mass
from the primary wind near periastron passage, a process that suppresses the
secondary wind. As the shocked secondary wind is responsible for most of the
X-ray emission, the accretion process accounts for the X-ray minimum. The early
exit from the 2009 X-ray minimum after four weeks, instead of ten weeks as in
the two previous minima, is attributed to the primary wind that during the last
minimum was somewhat faster and of lower mass loss rate than during the two
previous X-ray minima. This results in a much lower mass accretion rate during
the X-ray minimum. We show that using fluctuations in these quantities that are
within the range deduced from fluctuations in the X-ray flux outside the
minimum, can account for the short duration of the last X-ray minimum. The
shorter X-ray minimum may have further implications on the recovery of the
system from the spectroscopic event.
